Joey Noventa & His Magnificent Adventure

He was just an ordinary boy, at least he thought so. And it would be just another ordinary day, at least he assumed it would be. But he was wrong, very wrong. I am of course referring to Joseph Noventa, the young man known to all and sundry as Joey.

Joey of course dreamed of being an adventurer but he had long since figured out what he imagined was the unbridgable gulf between fantasy and reality. Little did he realise that today that gulf would shrink to inconsequential proportions. Everything about his world was about to change and he had not even the remotest idea it would start today.

As he walked to school he saw on the pavement a small matchbox which he naturally picked up. ‘I wonder if there are any unused matches inside’ he said to no one in particular. To find out he opened the box and discovered a folded piece of paper with the words ‘OPEN SESEME SEEDS’ in bold typeface. ‘What’s that supposed to mean’ he muttered and put the box and paper into his back pocket. By now he had arrived at school and wanted to keep his ‘Curiosity’ for later when he was alone. After yet another thrilling day at school learning about the capitals of the world, he arrived home and went straight into his bedroom, emptied out his pockets, opened the matchbox and took out the paper and unfolded it. It read: THIS IS NOT A COINCIDENCE JOEY, YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED FOR A SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT. SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT, THEN LIGHT THE ONE REMAINING MATCH IN THE BOX TO DESTROY THIS MESSAGE AND FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE REVEALED IN DUE COURSE. Joey was more than slightly puzzled ‘How is my name written on that paper, as anyone could have picked up the matchbox’ he reasoned to himself. But a special assignment; what could it be? His imagination began to get carried away as he thought about the possibilities. Maybe he would be joining the famous KI7 child genius SpyRing. Or perhaps it was a top secret mission for space exploration that needed a smart school boy to do what no adult could ever do. But what exactly would that be? As his mind wandered from one possibility to the next he suddenly had two almost simulteonous thoughts. The first was ‘Is this a big joke and am I being filmed right now. Will I be appearing on the TV Show TV’S Funniest Pranks?‘. The other thought was “Okay, I accept; I’m going to light that match’.