Bud, Not Buddy

“It wasn’t hard to see what the guy who must be my father was like just by looking at his picture.” 

Bud feels certain that the man in the blue flyer, whom he assumes is his father, is “real quiet, real friendly and smart” (7). Bud has never met his father, but Momma’s reaction when she brought the flyer home indicated to him that the image must be very important. This quote shows that while in many ways Bud is wise beyond years. He holds a child’s hope that the man pictured in the flyer is his father and that he, Bud, can meet him someday.

“It seemed like he knew some of the same things I know. The things I think of all the time and try to remember so I don’t make the same mistake more than seven or eight times.” 

Bud refers to Todd Amos after Todd lies to his mother that Bud attacked him. Bud keeps a running list of these pointers on his “Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself.” Todd tells his mother the easy-to-remember lie that Bud attacked him when Todd tried to get him to use the bathroom to avoid wetting the bed.

“My favorite saying in the whole world is ‘He who laughs last laughs best,’ so I put my hand over my mouth and whispered ‘Ha-ha-ha.’”

Bud exacts his revenge on Todd Amos by making Todd wet the bed. Bud knows this will annoy Mrs. Amos as well, who hates bed wetting. After Todd wets the bed, Bud sneaks out of the Amos house with suitcase and heads to the street.

“Bud is your name and don’t you ever let anyone call you anything outside of that either.” 

Bud recalls these words from Momma as he sits outside the locked public library in the middle of the night after leaving the Amoses. Momma repeated certain pieces of advice to Bud frequently, and her insistence about his name was one of them. She always told him that a bud will bloom with care, and that Bud was like that, “waiting to unfold and be seen by the world” (42).

“Took you long enough to catch on, Clarence.” 

Bud’s “pretend daddy,” an unnamed man in line for the mission’s free breakfast, delivers this line of dialogue to Bud once the family is safely inside eating. The family spontaneously accepts Bud as one of their own to get him into the mission when he arrives fifteen minutes too late to get in line by himself. The family’s actions show kindness and generosity as well as quick thinking.

“If a Grown-up Ever Starts a Sentence by Saying ‘Haven’t You Heard,’ Get Ready, ‘Cause What’s About to Come Out of Their Mouth Is Gonna Drop You Headfirst into a Boiling Tragedy.” 

This is “Bud’s Rules and Things #16,” which he thinks about as he waits to hear what drastic and awful circumstance befell Miss Hill. Thankfully, he is wrong; despite the desk woman starting her response to his question about Miss Hill with “Haven’t you heard?”, Bud learns that Miss Hill has married and moved to Chicago. He first wonders about going there to find Miss Hill, but the new librarian helps him calculate that it would take 54 hours to walk from Flint to Chicago.

“It seemed like the only good thing that came out of going to Hooverville was that I finally kissed a girl.”

Bud learns that Flint and many other cities across the country have a “Hooverville,” a shantytown for the poor and homeless. In Flint’s Hooverville, he meets Deza Malone, a girl who helps him wash dishes after supper and makes it clear that she wants him to kiss her. Before dawn the next day, Bud misses the train west and witnesses the police burning down the Hooverville.

“That idea had gone and sneaked itself into being a mighty maple, tall enough that if I looked up at the top of it I’d get a crick in my neck, big enough for me to hang a climbing rope in, strong enough that I made up my mind to walk clean across the state of Michigan.” 

Bud reflects on how his early idea that his father must be Herman E. Calloway of Grand Rapids grew over time into more and more of a certainty. After his failure to board the train west with Bugs, Bud realizes that his name, Caldwell, and Calloway are similar. This cements his idea that the man must be his father, and he determines to walk to Grand Rapids from Flint to find him.

“If those Sleets had to live under those rules they’d all starve to death.” 

Bud is unused to family chatter and laughter during breakfast at the Sleet house, where Lefty Lewis takes Bud after picking him up. Mrs. Sleet and her children, Kim and Scott, enjoy talking and asking questions as they eat, and Mr. Lewis continues teasing everyone. The rule at the Home is no talking during meals, so Bud feels he must look around every time he speaks.

“I don’t need to listen to this scamp’s nonsense whilst I’m trying to digest my supper.” 

Herman E. Calloway is standoffish and rude to Bud in their first meeting, saying Bud is “disturbed.” When Mr. Jimmy arranges for Bud to tell more of his story after they provide him with a meal at the Sweet Pea, Mr. Calloway makes it clear that he does not approve, and walks away from the group.

“I like that, ‘my eyes don’t cry no more.’ You mind if I borrow that? That sounds like a great name for a song.” 

Steady Eddie comments to Bud that Bud must be very tough and resilient to not cry when speaking about his dead momma. Bud responds by saying he isn’t sure of the reason why but his “eyes don’t cry no more” (159). Steady Eddie latches onto the emotion and poetry of this phrase and asks Bud’s permission to use it as a song title.

“It was gonna take more than a grouchy old bald-headed guy with a tremendous belly to run me out of here.” 

As he eats meatloaf and mashed potatoes in the Sweet Pea and laughs along with the band’s stories, Bud is overcome with a feeling of belonging. Bud feels that, despite Mr. Calloway’s obvious disregard for him, he is exactly where he is supposed to be, and he can tell that Miss Thomas and the band members enjoy his presence.

“Go ahead and cry, Bud, you’re home.” 

Bud is cheerful and enjoying dinner at the Sweet Pea when he suddenly begins to cry. The feelings of relief and love overwhelm him and he cannot stop the tears. Miss Thomas brings Bud into her lap and rubs his back as he cries. Bud does not exactly hear these words from Miss Thomas aloud, but he strongly senses them in her humming and in her touch.

“You know, Herman, half the time I don’t know if I should laugh at you or just feel very sorry for you.” 

Once Miss Thomas settles Bud in the “gone” little girl’s room for the night, Mr. Calloway angrily locks the closet doors and tells Bud that secret alarms will go off if Bud tries to touch or steal anything in the house. Miss Thomas says this line to Mr. Calloway in reaction to his temper and attitude toward Bud’s stay.

“The way he was so worried about me stealing stuff from him before he even knew if I was honest or not made me wonder if someone who was so suspicious could ever be kin to me.”

Bud knows that Mr. Calloway is fibbing about the secret alarms set to go off on thieves in his home. In this line of interior monologue, Bud wonders at Mr. Calloway’s attitude and anger toward him and questions how an adult can be so untrustworthy without reason. Bud does not let Mr. Calloway’s tone or actions upset him.

“Yes, ma’am, my spirit’s a lot stronger than it looks too, most folks are surprised by that.” 

After his first night at the Grand Calloway Stations, Miss Thomas invites Bud to stay with the band indefinitely, but warns him that dealing with Mr. Calloway may not be easy. She says that Mr. Calloway’s behavior and words will test Bud’s spirit, but Bud replies that people tend to underestimate his strength.

“Arise and welcome to the band, Mr. Sleepy LaBone.” 

Once the band members explain to Bud that he will need to practice his new recorder two hours a day, they choose his new band name. Miss Thomas excuses herself for this “ceremony.” After tossing around several possibilities, Steady Eddie suggests Sleepy because Bud slept in late that morning, and Dirty Deed suggests a name that represents Bud’s thinness. They combine the two ideas to get Sleepy LaBone.

“Making somebody work hard isn’t as easy as it looks, some folks are good at it and some folks aren’t.” 

Bud reflects that Mr. Calloway does not succeed at making Bud unhappy with chores; Bud actually loves the jobs he receives. He pretends while mopping and enjoys the wheeled wringer that comes with the job. Bud also helps to load and unload the instruments when the band goes on the road; in Mecosta, he considers himself appointed guard for the band’s instruments and sleeps with them onstage after a nighttime performance.

“All of the instruments blended up together and, just like that smell in the library, you couldn’t tell which one was your favorite.” 

Bud is enamored with the beautiful music produced when the band plays improvisational sets to warm up. He compares the blended sound here to the good smell of cloth, leather, paper and dust in the library that makes him calm and sleepy. Once Miss Thomas adds her voice to the mix, however, its sound sticks out to Bud as a clear favorite.

“It’s the way of the world, Sleepy. It’s against the law for a Negro to own property out where the Log Cabin is so Mr. C. put it in my name.” 

On the way to a one-night gig in Mecosta, Bud rides with the band and listens to their stories and teasing of Mr. Calloway. They also reveal the reason that the band always includes a white person; Mr. Calloway must keep the Log Cabin in a white person’s name because of racist property laws. He also sends the white band member to arrange gigs where he knows a black band is not welcome. This is a moment in the novel that acknowledges how racial discrimination affects Bud as a Black character in the 1930s.

“Mr. Jimmy. I didn’t find them or steal them from nowhere, these’ve always been mine. I got them from my momma and that’s the swear- ‘fore-God truth. Now could I please have my rocks back, sir?” 

When Bud tries to show Mr. Calloway that he has rocks with dates written on them that look just like the ones Mr. Calloway collects and inscribes, Mr. Calloway takes the rocks from Bud and insists Bud stole them. This moment immediately precedes the climax of the novel, as Bud’s next revelation—the name of his mother—makes it clear to Mr. Jimmy that Bud is likely Mr. Calloway’s grandson.

“Herman is not your father. But Angela Janet is his daughter’s name. If what you’re saying is true, Lord help us all, it looks like Herman might be your grandfather.” 

Bud believes that Mr. Calloway’s angry dismissal of his rocks and fast departure into the house prove that he is caught in a lie and cannot deny being Bud’s father anymore. Mr. Jimmy, however, explains the truth in this line.

“Pardon me, ma’am, I know how I can show you what she looks like, I still got her picture.”

Mr. Jimmy asks Bud several questions after Bud names his momma, trying to determine if his momma can indeed be Mr. Calloway’s daughter. Miss Thomas does not need questions to know the truth; she claims Mr. Jimmy should be able to see the resemblance between Bud’s eyes and Mr. Calloway’s. The conversation is halted when Bud tells them he has his momma’s photo among his things.