March 11, 1936

They was asking my all kinds of questions about my mom like what she looked like and if I was sure that her last name was Caldwell. So I went and got my picture to so them so they would believe me. When I went up to my room Mr. C was sitting in there cry and didnt even notice I was in there.

Rule number 39 on my Rules and Things to have a funner like and make a better liar out of yourself was: The older you get, the worse something has to be to make you cry.

I walked over and patted him on the shoulder to let me know things were alright. Then all the sudden I realized I had not been sleeping in a little dead girls room but I had been sleeping in my mommas room! So I asked why my granddad never all me or my momma. and it turns out he did not even know about me! Miss Thomas explained that my dad was hurtin and I was going to have to give him sometime before I could talk to him.
But on a good note the band put some money together and bought me a baby-size horn just like Steady Eddie!!! It was a little old but I was going to shine that think up and it is going to look brand new! When I practice at first it was bad but then I got better and realized I will be as good as Steady!

I've traveled a pretty good distance over the past couple of days, but it was worth it because I'm finally home.

March 10, 1936

Man, we travel alot seven days and three trips alreadyQ I learn something about my dad today, he was a smartman. He always had a white man in the band because blacks can own land so Grnad Calloway Station had to be in a white mans name. Also, Herman E. Calloway sends the white man to get the gigs because he was more likely to get the gig then a black man.
I had to ride back with my dad and I was nervous about it. When we got in the car he popped open the glove box and it was full of rocks just like the ones from my mom that I have in my suitcase! I told him I had some just like that with the writin and eveything, but he didnt believe me. When I did show him my rocks he acused me of taken then from him! Then I told him I wasnt no theif that my momma gave me those So Mr. Jimmy asked my mommas name and when I told him Herman E. Calloway dropped his pipe right out of his mouth. He was shook up! I knew it he was my dad! I told Jimmy I knew I had been right! But Mr. Jimmy told he I was wrong that Herman was not my dad, but as it turns out he is my grandfather.

March 7, 1936

Herman E. Calloway was trying to work me like a dog, mopping the floors, and wiping down the tables and chairs. He is doin a terrible job. Thug, Dirty Deed, and Steady Eddie was playing and man that sound coming from the stage was outstanding. Then everyone else joined and the interments blended together so good you couldnt even tell what sounds was comin from what instrument. Miss Thomas was my favorite she sounded like an angel!

March 5, 1936

I woke up this mornin with no shirt or britches on! and I was inbetween the 2 sheets! Miss Thomas must have came in here and took my clothes off, folded them up just like momma, and tucked me into bed. I know rich folks secret to sleeping so good...Its sleeping between the two sheets! The grown ups were down stairs talking so I was loud when I went to the inside the house outhouse so they would know I was up. When I got down stairs Steady Eddie got me a new suitcase like the funny looking band cases. And I am going to be a part of the band! Got me a recorder and I am gonna practice everyday. I even got a band name! Sleepy La Bone... Sleepy cause I slept til noon between the two sheets and La Bone because I am skinny.

March 1, 1936

It turned out that Sweet Pea was really somebody's living room that had been decorated up real nice. That's where I met Miss Thomas, too. She was asking me a bunch of questions and I kept giving her a bunch of answers. I think she was tryin' to figure out how Herman E. Calloway was my daddy. When she asked me to explain how my mama let me know that Herman E. Calloway was my daddy, I didn't know how to answer. Right then Miss Tyla brought in our food and I was glad for that. Miss Thomas said she would finish questioning me tomorrow. The word "tomorrow" let me know that they really did plan on keeping me here for a while.

I ate my plate of food and, boy, it was the best meal I had ever had! I even had a desert called "On the House" and it was the best pie I ever had! Once I got done eating I started looking around and I got to thinking about all these people around me. One second I was laughing my head of, and the next second I was crying like a baby. I don't know what happened to me. Miss Thomas held me while I cried and that's when I knew I was home.

After we left the restaurant, we went to a house that they call Grand Calloway Station. It was named after the Grand Central Station in New, York City and that's where we were staying. Miss Thomas showed me to my room and I got real nervous. I asked Miss Thomas if the girl who's room it was would get mad if she knew I was sleeping in her bed. She told me not to worry because the girl was gone.

Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things to Have a Funnier Life and Make a Better Liar Out of Yourself Number 28:

Gone=Dead

I was going to be sleeping in a dead girl's room! When I looked around the room I saw one of those doggone Ticonderoga pencils (like the one Todd Amos stuck up my nose). I could smell the rubber all over again.

The bed had two sheets so I climbed under the covers to see what sleeping under two sheets felt like. Next thing I knew, I was fast asleep! 

February 28, 1936

I don't think my daddy really liked me callin' him my daddy. I don't have nowhere ales to go so he's gonna have to get used to it. I think Mr. Jimmy convinced him to keep because one minute they were whispering and the next minute they were introducin' me to Thug, Steady Eddie, Doo-Doo Bug and Dirty Deed. They was even takin' me to eat at Sweet Pea!

February 26, 1936

Turns out Mr. Lewis did a lot more than drive whilst I was asleep in the back seat. He contacted HEC! That’s short for Herman E. Calloway, my daddy. He went off and told him that he had me and was gonna be bringin’ me home to him today. I don’t know if I should be happy, nervous, or scared to death… then I had reason to be all but two of those. On our way down the road, me and Mr. Lewis gets pulled over by the coppers! They were poking around  looking for some kinda labor organizer that I ain’t never heard of. Can’t say the same for Mr. Lewis. He hadn’t only heard of them, but he is one of them. Boy was I glad I didn’t know that before them coppers came along, cause I woulda blew the top right off our lie!

APPEARING FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY IN JULY HERMAN E. CALLOWAYAND THE NUBIAN KNIGHTS OF THE NEW DEAL. Now it was time to meet the man for real. No turning back now. Saying bye to Mr. Lewis was hard, but this was my reason for taking out on the lam. Walking in the place where the sign was hung gave me that nervous feeling again. But I kept my stride quick until I reached the stage. There he was with a group of men, Herman E. Calloway. Looking at him I knew he was my dad. When that snaggletooth guy blurted out his business I didn’t even hear him. I just stood there, glad my eyes didn’t cry no more, and waited for my daddy to recognize me.  

February 25, 1936

HUMAN BLOOD!!! Turns out Mister black hat ain’t no cop or no soldier. Heck by the letters I read on that cooler chest he ain’t even no human bean. Shucks I done gone and got myself picked up by a real vampire! Before I let him suck my body dry, I would take to the woods again. So I done it. I stole the car. Too bad I didn’t get far before it clunked out on me. Man when that vampire tapped on the window I just knew I was a goner. So after a lot of talkin’ and teeth showin’ , it finally came together that Mister black hat was no cop or soldier. And he wasn’t a vampire either. He was just a guy who delivered blood to the hospitals, includin the ones in Flint. So yep I was headed back to Flint.

The car ride back over the roads I just walked seemed longer and harder. That is until Mister black hat started in on the 1000 question game. He asked me everything he could possibly think of, and with the red syrup gone from my insides, I had to fight hard to give up the right wrong answers. “My momma is dead. I live with my daddy in Grand Rapids. He don’t work for no railroad, he plays a fiddle, but not just any fiddle. It’s got to be the largest fiddle in the world.” Turns out Mister black hat knows my daddy, HEC pretty good. Somethin strange went off in my head and I figured I better stop talkin so much before I give up the wrong answer.  So, I asked Mr. Lewis to do good on his promise and give me some food. Not just cause I was hungry, but so’s I can’t talk; momma would never go for me talkin with food in my mouth. So I ate and Mr. Lewis told me all about how people that knew him good called him Lefty. I knew his talkin would not be long before more questions, so I stuffed the food down my throat and quickly pretended to fall asleep. My pretendin didn’t last long; I slept the entire rest of the ride.

I have never slept so hard in a car before. Must have been the extra walkn’ I did. So now I wake up in this house, with these people I don’t know, and somebody done took my pants off again! What is it with folks and touchin my pants? And where is my suitcase, I just know they done looked all through my stuff. So that voice sound familiar; it’s Lefty, I mean Mr. Lewis.  This has to be his place. Not too bad for a blood driver. I don’t know if I should get up or keep pretendin like I don’t hear this lady talkin about me. After a 30 minute exchange between the two grown-ups of the house somebody smart finally says it’s time for breakfast, and boy am I hungry!

 Mrs. Sleet, Mr. Lewis’ daughter, made the best breakfast:  pancakes, sausages, toast, and a huge glass of orange juice. After gettin some new -to -me trousers, I went to have breakfast with the Sleets and Mr. Lewis. The breakfast was different. I never had sausages or such an interestin sit down meal at the Home before. Kim and Scott talked more than any two people I had ever met before. After singin me a song and saying grace over the breakfast, it was their turn for the questionin game that I really didn’t feel like playin.  They were kids, but they were just as nosey as their grandfather, Mr. Lewis.  “How come you run away? Was it cause your daddy beat you? How your momma die?”  I just wanted to be left alone for a bit, and these two were not gettin it!

February 23, 1936

Stay. Go. Go. Stay. Tryin’ to decide done made me doggone tired.  Grand Rapids it is! 120 miles is a lot different than you think. The change from city horns to country bugs is enough to make you go plum crazy. Even the human beans was changed. Come to find out a lil’ black boy walking down the road at 2a.m.  was a change these folks wasn’t ready for. Most of the cars stepped on they brakes to see if what they thought  they saw was for real. Then they keep goin’. But not Mister black hat and his baloney mustard sandwich. Givin’ me that nice cold red pop did what mister black set out to do, break the ice between us. Not only that, the sweet syrup freed me to lie ‘bout where I come from…

February 22, 1936

I made it in time for breakfast but my fake family wasn't there with brown sugar. After breakfast I headed back to the library. I got that book with the cities and maps in it so I could figure out how far Grand Rapids is from Flint. 24 hours. Man, another long walk! I would pass through Owosso, Ovid, St. John's, Ionia, and Lowell. After that I looked at a Civil War book and before I knew it the librarian said it was closing time! I was too late for the mission, but the librarian must have known I was hungry cause she gave me a cheese sandwich. I told her I would be back tomorrow but I started out for Grand Rapids right away. I was going to show those people at the home that I had a daddy and he plays a giant fiddle and his name is Herman E. Calloway. And I was going West to find him!

February 21, 1936

I heard somethin movin around right before I woke up from my nap. I was ready to take off but whatever was movin jumped on me and I was as trapped as a roach under a dishrag! I pulled my knife out to stab the person if I needed to but then I heard a voice talkin to me that said, "If you ain't a kid called Bud from the Home I'm really sorry about jumping on you like this!" Whew, it was just Bugs! We decided to be on the lam together and be brothers forever! Only after we did our spit shake of course.

We found a place called Hooperville, just outside of Flint where we waited to catch a ride on a train. We were told we were actually in Hooverville and that if we were hungry and tired, we were in the right place. It was a place with cardboard houses and a fire. We fit right in and even helped cleanup after dinner since we were on kitchen police. That was when I met Deza Malone. After she kissed me real quick, my first ever kiss, she sang me a "pretty" song called Shenandoah. I think Bugs thought somethin was weird about me cuz he said I looked strange. That woman was right about my suitcase, she didn't let nothin happen to it while I did KP but I still checked everything out anyway.

We awoke to the sound of a man screamin tellin us the train was tryin to leave without us! We were runnin for the train but a flyer came out of my suitcase. Bugs went on without me like i told him to. The cops were there tryin to stop people from gettin on the train but they kinda gave up when they figured they didn't stand a chance against us. I ran to catch up to Bugs and threw my suitcase on the train but a flyer flew out again and i had to catch it. I couldn't make it on the train so Bugs threw my suitcase out for me. I headed back to Hooverville but the police were bustin the place up. I was hopin I would have time to make it to the mission for breakfast.

February 19, 1936

After breakfast I decided to go to the library to kill time. I had to find Miss Hill, but when I asked the librarian, she said, "My goodness, hadn't you heard?"

Rule #16 for having a funner life and making a better liar our of yourself - "If a grown-up ever starts a sentence by saying "Haven't you heard," Get ready, cuz what's about to come out of their mouth is gonna drop you headfirst into a boiling tragedy."

I was thinkin maybe she died or somethin but turns out she got married and moved all the way to Chicago. Looks like I'll be walking... for 54 hours! I guess I'll figure somethin out. For now I'm goin to crawl back under my tree for a little nap.

February 18, 1936

Being on the lam is rough! I am nearly starving. Thanks to some quick wit and kind folks, I was able to eat at the mission. Aside from getting a couple of smacks across the head, my day was that of a normal boy on the lam. I was a bit cold last night, but thanks to my blanket I didn't freeze to death.

February 16, 1936

I thought about Momma today. I know she meant for me to be called Bud, like the flower. Momma says she would have put the 'dy' on the tail of my name, but it is usually for dogs; and I ain't no dog. I miss Momma, her stories made me smile. I think of her often.

February 14, 1936

Man! Todd Amoes is meaner then a hornet! We end up fighin and him momma won't believe anything out of my mouth because her preious lil Todd won't ever do nothing wrong. So they are puttin me in the shed for the night, and they are keepin my suit case. They better not go lookin in my suit case again! The shed was dark at first and all I wanted was to be able to see. Then I could see all I wanted was for it to be dark. There was fish with sharp teeth hanging on the wall ready to bit me and bugs was everywhere. There aint no way I am sleep in here for the night so I had to figure out away to get around that darn ole lock door. I busted out the window and headed for the house, but not before the hornets got me.

February 13, 1936

I thought it was just go'n to be a regular day at the home, but I found out I'm go'n to the Amoses. I heard they have a son, so we'll see how that goes. My suitcase is always ready to go somewhere. I have to constantly check it to make sure no one runs off with my things. Those Amoses better not touch my stuff.

My Daddys Band