How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The only thing I could hear was my own breath. It was so loud that it sounded like there were six scared people locked up in the shed. (3.1)
The way Bud describes this scene—noise so loud it sounds like six people locked up in the shed with him—shows how scared he is of his surroundings. Bud likes to talk about scary situations this way: the bigger the description, the more scared you can bet he's feeling.
Quote #2
Up at the very top of the shed was the biggest vampire bat you'd ever see! He was hanging upside down asleep, but the smell of me rising up to him would probably wake him up any minute! (3.33)
Okay, we'd be totally freaked out if we had to sleep locked in a shed with a giant bat, but what really happens is even scarier. Because Bud is brave, he actually gets himself into a heap of trouble with hornets. Luckily, he also breaks free. Sometimes, bravery can get you into more trouble than you started with, but if you keep it up, you can get past that, too.
Quote #3
He slapped the strap on his hand and started walking toward me. I was wrong when I said being hungry for a day is about as bad as it can get, being hungry plus having a big knot on your head from a black leather strap would be even worse. I backed away but only got two steps… (6.13-15)
Bud is in survival mode, so although he is scared of going hungry for the day, he's even more afraid of being beaten. There is nothing he can do in this situation but run away, which he would have done if he hadn't been stopped by the nice man who lied for him.
Quote #4
Even though my head was still under my blanket, I could felt two eyes staring at me real hard and I knew these weren't critter eyes, these eyes made the hair on the back of my neck raise up the way only human bean eyes can do. Without wiggling or jiggling around too much under my blanket I got my fingers wrapped around my jackknife. (8.1)
Just like before, Bud is totally afraid that there's a person creeping around him. But instead of hiding, Bud gets ready to protect himself. Pretty courageous for a ten year old, but pretty intimidating, too. We wouldn't want to run into Bud while he's sleeping.
Quote #5
Dangee! If I didn't kiss her she'd think I was scared of girls, if I did kiss her she might blab or Bugs might see me and tell strangers about what happened. (8.165)
Bud's first kiss comes with its share of fear. Fear of others seeing or hearing about it, fear of doing it and fear of not doing it. Sheesh! Good thing Bud is brave or he might have chickened out on this one.
Quote #6
Every once in a while a couple of cats would give out the kind of howls and yowls that would make the hairs on the back of your neck jump up if you were a human bean and your heart turn into a little cup of shaky yellow custard if you were a mouse. (10.6)
So is Bud a man or a mouse? Maybe when the cats suddenly howl he is both. We love the way Curtis describes the feeling of being scared here. Our hearts begin to flutter just thinking about walking alone in the dark through the woods. Once again, the vivid description of a scene makes it almost as scary for us reading it as it is for the characters experiencing it.
Quote #7
On the side of the box some big read letters said as clear as anything, URGENT: CONTAINS HUMAN BLOOD!!! Oh, man, here we go again! My heart started jumping around in my stomach. The only kind of people who would carry human blood around in a car were vampires! (10.80-82)
Poor Bud. He's always thinking there might be a vampire of some type lurking around. This is one time when Bud's fear makes him do something pretty silly and even dangerous. It's probably not a smart move to try to drive away in somebody else's car when you don't even know how to drive to begin with. This shows that Bud, like any scared kid, can sometimes make mistakes and do things that can get him hurt or in trouble.
Quote #8
All the eyes jumped over to Herman E. Calloway. He quit smiling and looked at me a lot harder, like he was really noticing me.
I knew if I was a regular kid I'd be crying buckets of tears now, I didn't want these men to think I was baby so I was real glad my eyes don't cry no more. My nose plugged up and a little growl came out of my mouth but I kept my finger pointed, cleared my throat and said, "I know it's you." (12.171-172)
Once again, Bud may be afraid of the judgment or actions of others, but he pulls through and pushes on, asserting himself and showing us that he's a pretty brave person. Even though he's scared, he doesn't run away.
Quote #9
These guys really thought I was dumb. I said, "Yes, sir. But isn't it just like my luck to come clean across the state to find my daddy and he turns out to be a mean old coot?" I slapped my hand over my mouth. I knew better than saying something like this out loud… (13.78-79)
This is the first time we've seen Bud scared of his own mistake. Maybe that shows that he's learning about the consequences of some of his actions. Even though he doesn't usually trust anybody, he goes ahead and admits his fear—in a humorous way—to the jazz band, possibly because they're always teasing each other, and he feels comfortable as long as what he says comes off as a joke.
Quote #10
I would, except that those two little doors were starting to make me nervous. They looked like they were just the right size for a young Frankenstein or wolf man to come busting out of once all the grown folks left the room, and since there was only one chair in the room I wouldn't be able to block both of the doors off. (15.9)
Bud has quite an imagination. Sometimes that's great for him, and sometimes that makes things even scarier than they would be otherwise. Bud's overactive imagination also reminds us that he's really just a little kid, even if he goes around doing grown-up stuff all the time.