The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963

Kenny and Rufus help Dad spruce up the Brown Bomber over the next few weeks: washing, waxing, seat covers, windows. Dad gets new tires, spark plugs, and antifreeze for the car as well, and one day he adds a scented pine tree with great ceremony. Kenny thinks the car is done, but one Saturday morning he wakes early and sees Dad shaving. They converse about Kenny’s potential mustache. Dad leaves, misses several Saturday morning cartoons, and returns with a very special improvement to the car: a True-Tone AB-700 model Ultra-Glide, installed as a “drive-around record player” (109). Momma goes into the house, upset at the cost; Kenny, Byron, and Joey are very excited. They play records in the car for a long time, each sibling picking four records to play. Kenny plays “Yakety Yak” for all four of his turns. Momma returns and decides it is time to share the news: They will be driving to Birmingham as a family and leaving Byron to stay with Grandma Sands for the summer. If his behavior does not improve, Momma and Dad are prepared to leave him there for the next school year. Momma makes it clear that Byron’s problematic record of skipping school and getting into trouble is the reason for this decision. She tells Byron that Birmingham is a good place for nicer friends and outside activities like hunting and fishing: “Your grandma tells me it’s quiet in our old neighborhood, she says that that stuff on TV isn’t happening around her. It’s just like I remember it being, it’s safe, it’s quiet” (119).

Momma and Dad threatened in the past to take this step, but Byron, Kenny, and Joey thought it would not happen because Birmingham is far away and because Grandma Sands has a reputation for strictness: “The thought of living with her was so terrible that your brain would throw it out as soon as it came in” (120). On hearing this plan, Byron runs into the house. They hear him say the “S word” on the way in, but Momma says Grandma Sands will deal with “that mess.”

The next day, Kenny wakes early and finds Dad sitting in the car playing records. He gets in and asks if Byron must really go to stay with Grandma Sands. Dad explains that Byron needs to stop messing around and take the world more seriously, especially because “the world doesn’t have a lot of jokes waiting for him. He’s got to be ready” (123). Momma and Dad think that if Byron sees “what’s happening in some parts of the South” (122), it will be a wake-up call toward more mature behavior. At the same time, the easygoing pace and quiet of Birmingham might “help him by removing some of [Flint’s] temptations” (123). Kenny admits that parenting and being an adult look difficult, and Dad tells him he will learn from others and learn from experience.

A neighbor, Mrs. Davidson, brings Joey a going-away gift. It is a white plaster angel. Joey politely thanks Mrs. Davidson, then hides the angel in her sock drawer. She tells Momma she does not like it and opts to keep it in the drawer even when Momma says she might grow to like it. The night before the family leaves for Alabama, Momma and Dad require Byron to “bunk” in their room, as they are afraid he might run away. Kenny and Joey both knew that Byron was planning to escape, so their parents’ move suggests that they must have found out. Byron initially suspects that Kenny told on him, but it was Joey who revealed Byron’s plan to their parents, hoping to save him from getting in further trouble.

Momma has taken notes on the trip budget and written out lot of plans in a notebook labeled “The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963” (133). Once the family trip is underway, Momma explains how they will break up the drive over three days, spending nights in Cincinnati and Knoxville; they will eat sandwiches and chicken she packed in the cooler and get burgers at least once a day. The thoughts of motels and burgers elicit cheers from Kenny and Joey. Byron keeps quiet. Kenny overheard Byron telling Buphead that he, Byron, plans to ruin the fun part of taking a trip—like the games and conversation—by never saying a word for three days. Byron asks about the record player, however, by the time they get to Detroit. Kenny teases Byron for speaking so soon, and Byron threatens to “jack [him] up in Alabama” (137).