Bud thinks about how it's pointless to keep on fighting a fight when you know you are losing.
Todd Amos, Bud's foster brother, starts beating up Bud pretty badly, so Bud curls up on the floor and protects his head.
While Todd kicks Bud, Mrs. Amos walks into the room and Bud hides under the bed, so Todd kicks him under the bed.
Todd falls to his knees pretending to catch his breath as if he were being attacked.
Mrs. Amos is furious and scolds Bud for hitting Todd, who lies by saying that he had come in to remind Bud to pee in the toilet because he looks like he will wet the bed.
It turns out that Mrs. Amos hates bed wetters.
Bud tells us that he is a great liar and that Todd is, too. Maybe we're supposed to think that is cool?
The third rule of Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself is: if you have to tell a lie, make sure it is simple and easy to remember.
Bud realizes that Mrs. Amos pretty much believes everything Todd says and thinks whatever Bud says is a lie.
So who beat up whom? It turns out that Todd woke Bud up by shoving a pencil up his nose. (Ouch.) Todd also told him that he got the pencil up Bud's nose higher than all the other foster kids'. This Todd is a real charmer.
So Todd is the kind of kid who abuses all the poor kids that the Amoses take in. Kind of hard not to feel sorry for poor Bud.
Well, after Todd goes and calls Bud "Buddy," Bud socks him across the cheek. This makes Todd smile. Odd?
Todd walks over to Bud and takes off his robe slowly, then goes ahead and beats Bud up. Again.
Mrs. Amos tells Bud that she will not let him stay with them any more and that he can't sleep in her house that night. She and Mr. Amos bring in his suitcase, and Bud notices they've gone through it.
In a rant, Mrs. Amos tells Bud that she has been "stung by my own people before" (2.37) and says that she doesn't have time to waste on those who "don't want to be uplifted" (2.37). She's pretty much decided that Bud is a bad kid and bad news.
Mrs. Amos tells Bud that he has to sleep out in the shed, but Bud stops listening closely because he is worried about his things in his suitcase.
After Bud reaches out for his case, Mrs. Amos says she's going to hang onto it so he won't steal anything.
If that isn't bad enough, she threatens to whip him with a thick leather strap if he doesn't go apologize to Todd. Bud was going to apologize, anyway, because he didn't want to keep getting beaten up.
Bud apologizes really well to each member of the family and begs Mrs. Amos not to send him back to the Home.
He tells us that he actually does want to go back there, but you have to lie about what you really want to adults.
The one hundred and eighteenth rule of Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself is: give adults something they can take away from you, but not something you actually want…
As they walk out, Todd adds that Bud should beware of the vampire bat, spiders, and centipedes in the shed. Todd says that the last boys to stay with the family got really hurt.
Walking out to the shed with the silent Mr. Amos, Bud spots a shotgun in the kitchen and his suitcase under the kitchen table.
The shed is dark, dirty, and old. Bud sees a big, black spot on the dirt floor and thinks it's blood.
Mr. Amos shuts and locks the door.
The shed is totally dark and totally scary.
