Depending on the reader's interpretation, Bud may come close to experiencing death at several points in the novel.
For example, Bud could have been killed in Chapter 3, when he is attacked by the hornets' nest. Depending on the severity of the stings and a potential allergy, he could have died. He also THOUGHT the nest was a vampire bat which, from his point of view, could have certainly killed him.
Later in the book, Bud also comes close to death without truly realizing it. When he is found on the side of the road by Lefty Lewis, Lewis mentions how dangerous it is for a young black boy to be wandering alone in that area. Bud is most concerned by his belief that Lewis is a zombie, but he actually was endangered by his innocent wanderings as a young black boy in 1930s America.
Without a more specific chapter reference, I can only offer a couple of suggestions to answer this question. Different readers might think that Bud comes close to experiencing death at multiple times throughout the story depending on how each readers analyzes certain risks that Bud takes. Personally, I think that Bud comes close to experiencing death throughout the story because of malnutrition, hunger, and/or starvation. Bud mentions that he is hungry throughout the story. Additionally, adult after adult comments on how Bud simply looks hungry. Depending on his exact calorie intake, his body could very well be on the edge of simply shutting down on him. Anecdotally, I've seen this happen with a student of mine that suffered from an eating disorder, and I was the one that had to call the ambulance when she passed out and couldn't be roused.
While starvation might have been a constant threat to Bud, chapter 3 contains a specific moment in which I believe that Bud very well could have died. That moment is when he hits a hornet's nest, and the hornets begin attacking and stinging him over and over again. Reports of people being stung to death by hornets is not uncommon. Hornet venom can be deadly, and a mother, aunt, and daughter were stung to death in 2014 after accidentally disturbing a nest. Bud is trapped in a shed with hornets stinging him. His life is very much in danger at this point.
What I'd thought was a vampire bat hanging on the ceiling was really a hornets' nest and now there were about six thousand hornets flying around in the tiny shed and each and every one of them was looking for me!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2748897/Hornets-sting-mother-aunt-daughter-six-death-family-disturbed-nest.html
https://www.jcehrlich.com/wasps/7-facts-about-hornets/
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