Slug the Dream Chaser

By John Pegram

Slug, the Dream Chaser is a captivating story about Slug Hudson, that vividly portrays his incredible
courage and determination to fulfill his dream. He
endures setbacks, countless disappointments, and
suffers great pain from others. But, no one could deter him from his passion to play music. Slug, the Dream Chaser will make you laugh and it will give valuable lessons that he learned through his trials. In spite of all of the odds against him, Slug succeeds in everything he sets his mind to do. This story of an extraordinary character will keep you mesmerized to the shocking end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Oct 29, 2012
• ISBN: 9780984250349

Book preview

Poconos

CHAPTER 1

Establishing the Family

Slug was born to Ester and Fred Hudson on February 25th 1944 at Mercy Hospital in the small, rural town of Elk, Virginia. Slug was a breach- birth. (This is when a fetus has turned around in the womb and baby is positioned to come out feet first.) Dr. Bonduel, the doctor who was doing the delivery, recognized the problem and quickly decided to deliver the infant by C-section method. Ester had a hard time with Slug’s delivery and she almost lost her life in the process. Amazingly, Slug was born on the birthday of his four-year old sister, Cede.

Ester’s first marriage was short and two children were born out of that union--Jessie and Gina Jones. After this marriage ended in divorce, Ester met Fred Hudson and they fell in love, got married, and had six children together: Chad, Carol, Ella, Cede, Wendell, and Slug. Unfortunately, Wendell died from pneumonia when he was an infant but the good Lord gave Ester, Fred and their family the strength to carry on. HE blessed them with good fortune in the form of another son and they named him Slug.

Ester was thrilled when she gave birth to Slug. She just knew that she had given birth to a special child. She had no idea--not even a clue--as to what Slug’s calling would be. Ester just knew that Slug would be different and was very talented.

Fred was a labor worker but he was best at farming. Ester was a stay-at-home mom. The Hudson’s were Christians and they lived in a tiny, two-bedroom house. Slug and his brothers slept on one side of the 2nd bedroom in one bed, and the girls slept on the other side of the room in another bed. The Hudson’s were poor but they were a proud family and they did the best that they could with what they had at that time. Slug and his family faced and survived some severe hard times and issues. However, they were blessed through it all and progress was in the making. This story gets interesting. Read on!

CHAPTER 2

Curious and Challenging

Slug was blessed with a great memory and even as an adult he remembered back to when he was four years old. Slug recalls a man named Amos who pulled out his knife and playfully acted like he was going to cut off Slug’s feet. Little Slugger ran and told Ester and she came out the house telling Amos that he better not do that again and asked him to leave.

In the meantime, Ester went back in the house and continued to wash the clothes. She used red devil lye, a poison that is used to wash and boil their clothes and sheets. When Ester turned her back for a minute, Slugger tasted some of the lye. As soon as he put that lye in his mouth it started to burn like you can’t believe. He began to scream and yell while he still held the can of lye in his hand. Ester knew just what to do so she took away the can of poison and she cleaned out his mouth with vinegar, water, and lard grease. Ester says that it was God’s grace and mercy that kept Slug from swallowing that poison. But it left its mark permanently on his face.

One day, Slug stood too close to Ester when she was chopping wood and the ax glanced off the wood and hit him in the face near his temple. He was blessed that the back of the ax hit him instead of the blade. He carries that scar also.

Slug had a mind of his own and at times he was very naughty. One day he decided to steal away from home to go and play with the neighborhood kids about a mile down the road and across the highway. He was trying to cross the road when he tripped and fell and a car was coming. He was lying in the road, too frightened to move! But, the man managed to stop the car before it hit him. Slug heard the horrible squeal of the tires and saw the smoke from the skidding tires.

Slug never forgot that man driving the car and the look of fear that he had on his face. He was a big, heavy, black man, and people called him Big Papa. He thought his car was going to hit Slug and Big Papa was obviously upset. Getting out of the car he shouted at Slug, Boy, Whazz yo mama? He went on to say, Git out dis heah road, boy and cayy yo ass home. Well, one of the neighbors, Bertha Wright, saw what had happened and she came to Slug’s house and told his mom what she had seen. Ester whipped Slug’s behind up one side and down the other.

Slug stayed at home that day, but a couple of days later he stole away again because he had the urge to go and play with the neighborhood children. While they were playing, they told Slug that he lives in a haunted house. One night when his parents were grocery shopping, Slug tried to show his sister, Cede, a man behind the door with no head. Either it was Slug’s imagination, or he was playing a joke on Cede; or, maybe it was true. Cede told their parents that Slug was trying to show them a ghost and they were afraid but Slug wasn’t.

Fred and Ester did admit that somebody told them that something evil happened in that house years before they moved there. Mysteriously, every once in a while, something would blow out the lamp even at times when there was no wind! Sure, his parents tried to be brave, but there were a lot of crazy stuff happening more and more often so Fred started to look for another place to live.

Fred’s leg was badly injured when he was working at the saw mill so he had to give that job up and start back to farming. Fred was great at farming, however he did not own his own farm--he was just a share cropper. Fred talked to Cleo Figs, a fellow who owned a large farm in the area, and they moved there and raised tobacco, peanuts, cotton, corn, oats, and soybeans. Slug was five years old and the year was 1949.

On the farm, Slug learned a lot about agriculture. However, farm life wasn’t easy. As a matter of fact, farm life for black people was very hard, but his parents were hard workers and they taught him how to grow a garden, raise chicken, and pigs. They also taught him how to care for cows, and mules too.

Slug remembers being home alone with his mother while his older brothers and sisters were at school. Slug kept himself company by playing with and feeding the chickens while he sat on the kitchen floor. You see, the cracks in the kitchen floor was so big and wide, the chickens could stick their heads up through the cracks and eat the crumbs that Little Slugger fed them. Also, when the family was at the table eating mid-day dinner, two or three of the chickens would stick their heads through the cracks and Little Slugger would throw them a little something from his plate.

The first time Slug asked his dad if he could ride the mule. His dad told him no, but Slug climbed up on the barn roof and jumped on the mule. The mule took off running and Slugger was thrown off. Slug’s dad snatched a limb off a nearby tree and commenced to beat the bark off Slug’s tough butt. But guess what? As soon as Fred’s back was turned that next week, Slug climbed up on that mule and rode it anyway. Fred called his Little Slugger a hard-headed scoundrel. One thing for sure, Slug was willing to take a hind part whipping to ride that mule.

Ester could see that the Lord was looking out for Slug because he had survived so much. She would often say, the Lord was keeping Little Slugger for something special. She just didn’t know what.

CHAPTER 3

Physical Abuse and Slavery

It’s 1950 now. Slug is six years old and he will be going to school soon. Slug was excited, at least for the first day. He will never forget his teacher, Ms Tang. She was the meanest woman ever to walk this planet, he thought. They had to walk ten miles one way to Execution Elementary School. That school was really a big one room classroom where Ms. Tang taught first grade through sixth grade.

So guess what? Slug was the one who would not pay attention. He was the class clown. Ms. Tang gave him a whipping every day and when Slug got home he got another whipping from Ester. Sometimes Miss Tang would make Slug stand in the corner facing the wall while he stood on one foot in the trash can. She would snatch him up by the back of his clothes and sling Slug into his seat, but as soon as she would turn her back Slug would do something to irritate her and she would do something else mean to him. Ms. Tang was