Bud, Not Buddy Chapter 17 Summary

While the band prepares to rehearse, Bud works with the mop, pretending that it is the underwater boat in the book he erroneously remembers as Twenty Thousand Leaks Under the Sea. The boy knows that Herman E. Calloway is trying to "work [him] like a dog," but Bud is used to hard labor. The old man's efforts are falling far short in wearing him down.

Bud's attention is suddenly diverted by someone shouting out, "One, two, one two three!" The Thug begins brushing his drum sticks on the cymbals, making a sound "like a soft rain...commencing to fall." Dirty Deed joins in, making the piano match the "rain pats" the Thug is creating. The combined sound is like

what Niagara Falls must...