I can't work our why this simple sql query is returning false.

sql-query-results

mysql> SELECT max( vid ) FROM `node_revisions` WHERE nid= 280;

+------------+
| max( nid ) |
+------------+
|        280 |
+------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

wtf.db-result.php

  <?php 

  $max_vid_value_for_nid = db_fetch_object(db_result("SELECT MAX(nid) FROM {node_revisions} WHERE nid= 280")); 

  // this should return an object
  var_dump($max_vid_value_for_nid); 


  // this should return an integer, 280, but returns null
  var_dump($max_vid_value_for_nid->MAX); 
  
  ?>