The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963, Chapter 11

When Kenny wakes up he asks Dad, "Are we there yet?" Dad responsds,

"Oh no, et tu, Brute?" 

The phrase et tu, Brute was made famous in a play by Shakespeare called Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar was a real person in history, a government leader. He was attacked by a group of senators. The story, or legend, says that he tried to fight back, but then saw that his good friend, Marcus Junius Brutus, usually just called Brutus, was with the attackers. Caesar looked to Brutus and said, "Et tu, Brute?" This means "You too, Brutus?" or "Even you, Brutus?" or "And you, Brutus?"

The rest of the family has already woken up and asked the same question, so basically Dad is saying, "Oh no, you too, Kenny?" Maybe he could have said, "Awww, man. Even you are buggin' me with this, Kenny?"

Dad is listening to country music. He mentions a song about a "truck drivin' man." This song was originally written in 1954. This guy, Buck Owens, recorded it in 1964, so Dad wouldn't have heard this guy sing it. Nevertheless, here's the song Dad probably heard.

When they arrive at Grandma Sands' house, Kenny expects her to look like a troll. Maybe like one of these guys.

 

Kenny expects the showdown between Grandma Sands and Byron to be an epic battle, matching two incredible forces against one another. He mentions these possibilities:

 vs. 

Godzilla vs. King Kong

 vs. 

Frankenstein vs. Dracula

 vs. 

Bobo Brazil vs. The Sheik

Instead, it appears to Kenny that the battle will look more like one of these match-ups.

vs. 

King Kong vs. Bambi

 vs. 

Bobo Brazil vs. Captain Kangaroo, famous children's TV show host.

 vs. 

Dracula vs. a giraffe (and Byron is all neck!)

Ladies and gentlemen, let's get readyyyyyy to rrrrrrumblllllllllle!!!