Chapter 12 Bud Not Buddy

Bud and Mr. Lewis run errands around Flint. On their way out of town, they get pulled over by a police car. Bud thinks the police are after him.utside, Bud hears the officer tell Lefty that they are looking for labor organizers that may be sneaking in from Detroit. They are free to go, and on the go again, Lefty explains what a labor organizer is and how the factory workers are trying to make a union, which is like a family. Bud is confused: he doesn't understand why the cops would be after people trying to build a family. Lefty tells Bud to look inside that box he hid under his seat. As he lifts the lid slowly, Bud is about to look, but Lefty smacks the lid shut and warns Bud that what is inside is dangerous. Hmmm. Bud doesn't want to get in trouble looking at whatever it is. Scared that he'll see a gun or something, Bud says he'd rather not look and suggests he take a nap instead. Lefty tells him to go on and look, but Bud insists he doesn't want to see it. Bud finally looks inside, and there are just papers with writing on them. They are flyers announcing a secret meeting for a Pullman Porter Union. So, Lefty isn't a labor organizer, but he is delivering flyers to organize a sit-down strike. Lefty tells Bud the sit-down strike is happening so that the big bosses won't be able replace striking workers with other workers. (If the workers are sitting down on the job, there won't be any room for new workers.) That way, the bosses have to listen to what the strikers want to say.Bud walks in and finds the band on the stage talking. Calloway tells the guys about boxing and then says something that proves to Bud this must be his father: Calloway says that during one fight, he realized that "enough was enough," which is exactly what Bud had thought when he fought Todd. But what is weird is that Calloway is really, really old. Bud walks onto the stage anyway. Once up there, the band stops and asks him what he's doing in here. When Bud replies that he's here to meet his dad, and points to Calloway, the old man gets serious and denies it. Bud is really glad that his eyes can't cry tears, because otherwise he would have been bawling.