Bud, Not Buddy

Bud is late for getting in line at the mission the next morning. A man tells Bud the line cut off at 7 a.m., and it is now 7:15. Bud tries to explain and attempts to lie, but the man threatens him with a black strap. Another man, tall and physically imposing, suddenly calls Bud “Clarence” and smacks him on the back of the head, telling Bud to return to where his momma and siblings are in the line. A woman calls to him, “Clarence, you get over here right now” (47). This ruse convinces the line guard that Bud is their son, and Bud is able to enter the mission with this family. When the line turns the last corner, the people in line laugh at the irony of a billboard depicting “a family of four rich white people sitting in a car driving somewhere” (49). The car is large and the people pictured are dressed well, smiling, and “shiny.” A caption on the billboard reads “There’s no place like America today!” (50). Bud enjoys oatmeal inside the mission for breakfast and notices the peace and quiet inside. His “pretend momma” even sprinkles some brown sugar on his oatmeal from a small packet she has. The man and woman warn Bud to get in line plenty early for supper.

Bud returns to the library. Inside, he pauses to enjoy the smell of leather, cloth, and paper, thinking how it is no wonder folks often fall asleep while reading a book in the library. He stashes his suitcase at the desk and goes to look for Miss Hill, whom he hopes can help him. He cannot find her; he asks about her at the circulation desk. The woman there explains that Miss Hill got married and moved to Chicago with her new husband. She helps Bud see the distance on a map, then calculates using several resources how many hours it would take him to walk there: “Shucks, this is one of the bad things about talking to librarians. I asked one question and she already had us digging through three different books” (58).

Once Bud realizes Miss Hill cannot help him, he considers returning to the Home, but decides against it because so many other new children arrive each day. He returns with his suitcase to the pine tree where he slept, unconcerned: “That library door closing after I walked out was the exact kind of door Momma had told me about. I knew that since it had closed the next one was about to open” (59).

Bud wakes when someone sneaks close and jumps on him. It is his friend Bugs, who decided to run away from the Home and, inspired by hearing how Bud fought Todd Amos, is “going back to riding the rails” (62). They converse eagerly, with Bugs wanting to know “Did the guy cry after you whupped him?” (62) and Bud asking all about hopping and traveling on trains. They decide to hop a train going west to find work picking fruit and go to the mission to learn when and where they can hop a westbound train. Bugs and Bud hear they must go to “Hooperville” outside Flint. Once there, Bud sees only “huts and shacks throwed together out of pieces of boxes and wood and cloth” (64). Bugs calls it “just another cardboard jungle” (65) intended for train hoppers. They approach a small group of folks around a fire and a man explains they are in Flint’s Hooverville, one of many Depression-era shantytowns across the United States named for President Herbert Hoover. It is filled with hungry, homeless, and migrant people. Many men and boys wait to hop the train early the next morning. The man offers the boys dinner if they agree to help with clean-up and they eagerly agree.

Bud and Bugs eat muskrat stew and have seconds. A girl named Deza Malone takes Bud to a small stream where they wash dishes. Deza asks about Bud’s parents and he explains his momma died. She chats for a while with Bud and soon asks if he has ever kissed a girl. She moves in close and they kiss: “[…] I’d practiced on the back of my hand before, but this was the first time I’d ever busted slob with a real live girl before” (76). Later, Bud reflects on his suitcase possessions, then sleeps, dreaming of Deza Malone.

Before dawn, a shouting man wakes Bud, alerting all that the train is leaving. Bud and Bugs take off running through the woods with what looks like “a million” others intending to hop the train. At the tracks, local policemen employed by a man named Mr. Pinkerton try to prevent the men and boys from boarding, but soon the police give up because they are outnumbered. Bugs manages to jump on the departing train, but Bud cannot climb on. He takes his suitcase and returns to Hooverville, but more police arrive to burn it down. Bud decides to go back to Flint, aiming to get to the mission’s breakfast on time.