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!