The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963

Kenny attends Clark Elementary. Byron is a sixth grader there who failed at least one grade. His friend Buphead failed a grade as well, making them the oldest students in the building. Larry Dunn, a fourth grader, failed “two or three” grades, making him third oldest in the school; “Larry was the king of Clark…but Byron was a god” (20). Byron’s godlike status affords Kenny some protection from bullying, but he still gets harassed for his “lazy eye” and his “nerdy” capabilities.

Kenny is well known as an excellent reader, partly because his teachers have advertised the fact since he was in the first grade. His second grade teacher, Miss Henry, even took Kenny to the fifth grade to have him read aloud for the students. This was Byron’s classroom, so Kenny tried reading quickly to get it over with. Miss Henry, however, turned the book upside down in Kenny’s hand so that he would slow his pace. He was surprised afterwards when Byron seemed to stick up for him to Buphead: “Leave the little clown alone” (25). Byron told Kenny he should make the teachers pay him (Kenny) to read aloud. Other kids call Kenny Professor, Egghead, or Poindexter because of his “nerdy” talents, but Kenny thinks his treatment would be even worse if Byron teased him more. Kenny also gets called Cockeye Kenny because of his vision condition, commonly known as “lazy eye,” in which one eye does not appear to focus ahead. Byron tells Kenny to look sideways at people so that his eyes will appear to be straight.

Kenny does not like days when Buphead and Byron choose to skip school because their absence opens the door to more harassment than usual. On days they skip, Byron typically goes to the bus stop, says to Kenny, “Give my regards to Clark, Poindexter” (27), and walks away. One day, after this occurs, the driver waits to pick up two new students who are running to make the bus. They politely say “Hiya, y’all,” and are dressed “raggedy” and “country.” Kenny knows these brothers will be easy bullying targets and that other students will pick on them instead of him: “[…] I knew God had finally sent me my personal saver!” (29).

Kenny is surprised and worried when Rufus, the older brother of the pair of new students, decides to be Kenny’s friend. Kenny thinks this will increase the number of bullying incidents he suffers. Soon, though, he realizes that it is nice to have a friend for recess and for pretend dinosaur wars. Kenny had a playmate named LJ who turned out to be a bad friend, as he tricked Kenny into forgetting about dozens of plastic dinosaurs they’d buried in a pit to trap their radioactivity. LJ came back and stole all the buried dinosaurs, and Kenny did not remember them until it was too late. Kenny does not play with LJ anymore, but now Kenny and Rufus play every day at 5:30 when Rufus comes to Kenny’s house. One day on the bus, Larry Dunn teases Rufus and his brother Cody for sharing clothes, and Kenny laughs along with the others. Rufus decides he doesn’t want to play with Kenny anymore. Days later, Momma greets Rufus as he gets off the bus and escorts him home. Rufus shows up at Kenny’s later, and Kenny is ready to apologize: “At exactly 5:30 there was a knock and I knew who it was and I knew what I had to do” (46). The two carry on as if nothing happened.