Bud, Not Buddy

Bud goes with the band to a small town called Mecosta one and a half hours north. One the way to Mecosta, Bud rides with the band while Mr. Calloway, Mr. Jimmy, and the instruments ride in Mr. Calloway’s Packard he nicknamed LouDean. Bud enjoys the jokes the band members make at Mr. Calloway’s expense when he is not around. They also explain that Mr. Calloway must always keep at least one white band member, because in their area, Black people cannot own property. Dirty Deed, the white piano player, is the current named owner of the Log Cabin. Dirty Deed also goes ahead to gigs beforehand and makes arrangements where a Black band might not be welcome. Once the band shows up, Mr. Calloway offers a money-back guarantee if the audience is not happy with the performance; according to Eddie, “We haven’t been stiffed yet” (206).

The band plays at night and Bud sleeps on the stage afterwards, guarding the instruments. In the morning, Mr. Jimmy tells Bud to load the instruments into the Packard, then make the return trip with Mr. Calloway. Neither Bud nor Mr. Calloway is thrilled with this idea. Before they depart, Mr. Calloway has Bud pick up a small, round stone he chose from the ground outside the venue. Bud asks why he wants a plain rock. Mr. Calloway tells him, “Bad habit” (208) and does not reveal anything further. When he opens the glove box in the car, however, Bud finds many more round stones with writing on them in a similar style to the rocks he keeps that came from his momma, including rocks labeled “idlewild m. 5.2.36” and “Chicago il. 3.19.32.” He tries to tell Mr. Calloway that he has rocks with similar writing and climbs into the backseat to get a few from his new “suitcase,” the old sax case Steady Eddie gave him. Bud climbs back into the front seat, determined to wait until Mr. Calloway asks to see them.

Mr. Calloway never asks, so Bud goes ahead and shows him once back at Grand Calloway Station. Mr. Calloway is furious and demands to know how and from where Bud stole the rocks. Mr. Jimmy comes over to see why Mr. Calloway is so upset, and notices that the dates on Bud’s rocks are from over 25 years earlier. Bud says his momma gave him the rocks and that he carries them always. When Mr. Calloway rudely demands it, Bud reveals his momma’s name: “Her name is Angela Janet Caldwell” (212). Mr. Calloway goes inside without a word and Mr. Jimmy tells Bud that Angela Janet was the name of Mr. Calloway’s daughter. Bud is glad to hear that Mr. Calloway might be his grandfather instead of his father: “Shucks, who’d want a daddy that on top of being so old and so doggone mean had such a big belly? Not me” (213).

Mr. Jimmy asks Bud about his mother’s name and her death. When he asks what she looked like, Bud tells Mr. Jimmy and Miss Thomas that he has a photo to show them. He runs upstairs to find Mr. Calloway crying in Bud’s room. Bud thinks he is crying to discover that Bud is his grandchild. Bud touches Mr. Calloway’s arm and rubs his back briefly, then takes the photo back downstairs. The sight of his momma on the “brokeback” horse clinches it for Mr. Jimmy, while Miss Thomas already knows that Bud is Mr. Calloway’s grandson.

Together, Mr. Jimmy and Miss Thomas explain that Mr. Calloway pushed his daughter Angela to be a teacher, but Angela did not share that dream and ran away. Mr. Calloway has hoped for her return and looked for her for eleven years. He also continued his tradition of finding and bringing a rock home from every gig, which he started when Angela was five and asked for a “wock” as her present from his trip to Chicago. Miss Thomas tells Bud there are many boxes of rocks locked away. She also asks for Bud’s understanding in that, while he has been without his momma for four years, she and Mr. Calloway are just learning about her death. Miss Thomas gives him a framed photo of Angela at 16.

Miss Thomas leaves to comfort Mr. Calloway. The band arrives and gives Bud a new gift, a child’s alto sax that the Thug saw in a pawn shop. Steady Eddie tuned it and made it playable, and gives Bud a bottle of polish, telling him, “Get you a rag and shine her up. A man should polish his own horn” (230) Bud is thrilled and promises he will practice so much that he should be able to play with the band in three weeks. He goes upstairs to his room which was his momma’s when she was a young girl. He puts his blanket on the bed and hangs the photo of Momma on the horse on the wall with other horse pictures. He places the framed photo of her on the dressing table. He takes all the rocks (except for the one marked Flint) and the flyers to Mr. Calloway’s room and leaves them on the bed. Then Bud attempts to get a good sound from the saxophone, and when he does, he tells the smiling photo of Momma, “Here we go again, Momma, only this time I can’t wait!” (236).