The Time of My Lives

By J.M. Valente

This steamy autobiographical account of J.M. Valente is a noteworthy and truthful memoir telling the story of his life from 1952 to 2007 in a gentle-mannered yet surprisingly riveting narrative of his awkward beginnings, early awakenings, and the various endings in his fast-paced way of life.

He had an awkward start in life, having been

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.M.Valente
• Release date: May 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781958122648

Book preview

cover.jpg

THE TIME

OF MY

LIVES

J.M.

Valente

Lived and Written

Cover design by J.M. Valente

The Time Of My Lives

Copyright © 2022 by J.M.Valente

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

ISBN

978-1-958122-65-5 (Paperback)

978-1-958122-64-8 (eBook)

978-1-958122-66-2 (Hardcover)

Dedication

The Ten Women, that fashioned

major effects in my life, and of course to my loving Mom,

(Also to my second Godchild, Gabrielle)

Table of Contents

Praise / Review

A Life Accelerated

Forward

Chapter 1 Life Accelerated

Chapter 2 Patricia

Chapter 3 Mary and my older brother Joey

Chapter 4 Mary, Me, and ?.

Chapter 5 New; People, Places & Things

Chapter 6 Big City Nights, Big City Lights

Chapter 7 A Rude Awakening

Chapter 8 New Place, Little Space

Chapter 9 The Revolving Door Of Life

Chapter 10 An Unforgivable Offence

Chapter 11 Running Around Again

Chapter 12 The Truth At Last

Chapter 13 When It Rains, It Pours!

Chapter 14 More Heavy Weather!

Chapter 15 Stark Realities

Chapter 16 All Things Have An Ending

Chapter 17 ... By Its’ Cover

Chapter 18 Undiscovered Countries

Chapter 19 Loves Labors Lost

Chapter 20 Reunions/Deceleration

Chapter 21 Everything Must Change

Reflection

Praise / Review

J.M.Valentes’ autobiography Novel is fantastic! It grabbed me from the start and just kept getting better; I found it to be fascinating and unquestionably truthful. I strongly recommend everyone, male and female, to read this Novel; you will definitely discuss it with friends and family. It’s an absolute page-turning delight.

Pamela Clements

A Life Accelerated

What you are about to read, if you so choose to, is what I’m able to reveal of my expedited life. You will have to envision for yourself what I could not reveal. My life had started out ordinary enough, but very early on, I was tasked with a life-altering challenge; being very young, I was not equipped to handle it alone. Had it not been overcome by anything short of a miracle! My life would not have been unnaturally accelerated and transpired the way you shall be touched by it.

Forward

Jim is an irreproachable man. What is outside and what’s inside are conflicting. I see a warmth that is buried by hurt and disappointment. There is a lasting bitterness he carries. He is capable of giving in a relationship, but his lack of trust keeps him from doing so.’

An excerpt from the memoir

of a female friend.

Circa 1980s

1

LIFE ACCELERATED

1952 Autumn

I was born the third child of Ellie & Joseph in the fall of 1952, just after midnight on September 23 rd . Having; my brother Joseph, Jr. (1948) and my sister, Debra (1950), before me.

Life for me didn’t get off to a very good start; I was stricken with Polio at about three years old, completely paralyzed; I could only move my eyes, had to be taught to answer yes or no by blinking. I would spend the next year and a half living in the Capital City major hospital. After about a year of treatments, which gave me movement back to my waist, my legs weren’t showing any results, so the doctors then condemned me to a wheelchair for the rest of my life.

One of my therapy nurses, whose name is lost to me, asked my mother for more time with me. My mother, feeling there was nothing to lose, agreed.

The nurse would tell me every day that if I could move the stationary tricycle pedals, it would take me home.

Well, I guess you could say a miracle happened because I made it home at the end of my one-and-a-half-year stay in the hospital.

I had to learn how to walk all over again, with the help of leg braces for a while worn on the outside of my pants like the ones ‘Forrest Gump’ wore in the fictional movie. It was tough being four and dealing with that. I do remember being made fun of; children can be very cruel.

I guess I felt, no, I know I felt left behind, such as learning to do things, like riding a bicycle later than the other children in my neighborhood.

Not wanting to be left behind ever again, I subconsciously accelerated my life, not knowing at the time this wasn’t a really good thing to do.

Hindsight is twenty, twenty.

For example, in kindergarten at five years old, getting caught by the teacher kissing aka making-out with a girl named Susan in the coat closet, I was sent to the office where my mother was called to come to pick me up. She told me that kissing girls is okay, but not in school.

I graduated from kindergarten with that girl by my side, my graduation partner. I guess she liked the way I kissed.

Wow! A good Kisser at Five!

1958

At the age of six, an unplanned child was born into my family, another sister, Valerie. This kind of threw things off balance. My parents had planned on three children. She became the center of attention, which took it away from me. My brother Joey, sister Deb, and I had to share things such as a record player, radio, et cetera. But, Valerie received her own.

In spite of that, my childhood was okay; my father provided the material things; shelter, food, clothing, et cetera. While my mom supplied the love, affection, attention, empathy, and anything else, my father didn’t or couldn’t. His way of keeping order was physical punishment for his sons. But not for his daughters; mom would take care of them.

We more feared him than loved and/or respected him.

I never was very close to my father until my mother died. You see, my brother was my father’s son, while I was my mother’s son. That was okay with me; I loved her more anyway.

That made it my brother’s duty to follow in our father’s footsteps in the field of masonry construction, which I didn’t want to.

Speaking of my brother Joey, I loved him very much; I idolized him, as a matter of fact. He was very handsome; with his blue eyes, black hair, very much like;

Elvis ‘The King’ Presley.

All the girls wanted to be with him; all the guys wanted to be him; the overflow of girls came to me, Joey’s little brother. This and being the singer in my little local rock and roll band called ‘The Optic Illusion,’ accelerated my sex appeal, for instants;

1965 Summer

I lost my virginity at thirteen to an eighteen-year-old girl by the name of Wendy; she really wanted my brother Joe but settled for me; I had no problem with that, for she had the looks and the body to go with it. The best thing that came out of this encounter was not just me.

She taught me not to rush sex, to take my time, to be gentle, and listen to her instructions. It was quite the seduction scene. I don’t think I should go into the details.

At about this time, unknown to me, my brother Joey was starting to use illegal drugs.

I will sadly relate to that a little later.

2

PATRICIA

1965 Autumn

Patricia moved to my city; I don’t recall from where. I can never forget her being introduced in my eighth-grade homeroom. I was incredibly taken by her. To me, she was the prettiest girl I had ever seen. She was five foot three, with blond hair never shorter than shoulder length, blue eyes, full lips, an average figure for a girl her age, not outstanding, but there was enough of everything. Think of Tuesday Welds, a.k.a. Thalia from the ‘Dobie Gillis’ Television show, or Judy Geeson, a.k.a. Pamela in the movie ‘To Sir with Love.’ Patricia was one of those girls that were so good-looking that all the other girls didn’t like her. I had to be with her, and I would as soon as I could get rid of the girl I was seeing, who was just a big tease.

We played at being lovers, but nothing really happened; she would only go so far. I was ready to go all the way. My chance would come as soon as the next dance party came up. Patricia was there, and I wasted no time in my pursuit of her affections.

Slow dancing with her, holding her close to me, whispering sweet things in her ear, I won her over.

Yes, she came to be my first real steady girlfriend and lover. We were both fourteen years old and believed what we felt was love.

1965 Winter

(♫‘Gimme Some Lovin’♫ The Spencer Davis Group)

I remember our first sexual encounter. After school, I would go to Patty’s house to do homework ‘haha.’ Her mother was divorced, so she worked every day until five o’clock. On this particular day, when I arrived at her house, Patricia was starting to feel sick. She felt she needed to take some cold medicine and get into bed. She changed into what I felt was a very sexy little blue sheer nylon babydoll nightie.

This began to get me very excited, especially when she wanted me to get into the bed with her. At first, I said,

I really should go home.

She started to cry and told me she wanted me to stay. How could I refuse? I undressed to my briefs, slipped into her bed; we began to watch the movie ‘Lonely Are the Brave’ on television. Well, I could not keep my hands off her. One thing led to another, and before long, we were engaged in having sex. It was her first time, making it somewhat difficult to make penetration. It was my first time with someone I had real feelings for, so I guess you could say it was a first for both of us.

After that day, she would wear one of my tee shirts that she had written on it, ‘JIMS,’ meaning she was my girl. We made love every chance we could get.

(♫ ‘Good Day, Sunshine ♫ The Beatles)

Saturday Night Babysitting

Patricia had a younger half-brother, Richey. She and I would babysit him on Saturday nights when her mother went out with her boyfriend. Let me relate the Saturday night babysitting;

I would hang out with the guys on the corner up the end of Patty’s street until about eight at night.

One of those many nights, one of the guys proclaimed to me.

We all talk and lie about getting sex, and you, Jim, never say anything, but we all know you’re the only one that’s really getting it.

No comment from me. I had learned to be discreet very early in life. The less said, the better!

Like I was saying, I was hanging out, waiting for Patty’s mother to leave, didn’t want her there when I arrived, neither did Patty.

We would start the evening, sitting on the couch watching television. After she’d get her brother to go to bed, Patty would then get comfortable by changing into one of her sheer nylon babydoll nighties, which she had now come to know, was something that really turned me on. We would start with foreplay on the couch and then eventually making our way to her bedroom.

At fourteen, I was having Saturday nights that most men twice my age desired and only dreamt about.

After we were finished with the lovemaking, a.k.a. Intercourse, Patty would make me something to eat. All that activity would make a young man very hungry. After that, I stayed a little while and then left to make it home by eleven.

I have to say; it was a good time in my life because I remember it like it was yesterday. Our relationship went on until the end of ninth grade. Now we were both fifteen years old, and we split up, lost to my memory for some reason. Patty started seeing Louie, who had just split from his girlfriend Mary, my future wife. Patty didn’t want to be having sex with anyone else right away; in the sixties, that was being a whore. So I offered her my services and told her she could use me for what we now know as Booty Calls.

(♫‘You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me’♫ Dusty Springfield)

1966 Summer

The Humorous Louie Story

One afternoon, Patty and I had just finished up a Booty Call. We were surprised by Louie, her new boyfriend, unexpectedly coming to Patty’s House.

Neither of us wanted for him to see us together, as I was now seeing Louie’s ex-girlfriend, Mary, I guess you could say; Louie and I traded up. Patty actually didn’t want to let him in. I told her to talk to him through the door while I went out the back way. I cut through the backyards and came around the block to see him sitting on her front steps, looking rather gloomy.

Hey, Louie, What’s wrong, man?

I asked him.

"Hi Jim, Patty won’t open the door and let me in.

I think she has someone in the house, another guy."

He answered.

I know her; she wouldn’t do that to you.

I replied.

Come on, Louie, let me see if I can get her to open the door for me.

I proclaimed, trying to be helpful.

She finally did open the door for us, which was right as I asked her to.

Before she could say a word, I very quickly said to her.

You don’t look very good. Are you feeling okay?

wink wink!

Yes, I was in my bed feeling sick when Louie started knocking on the door. I arose to see who it was. I wasn’t looking very good, so I truly didn’t want to be seen like that. When he stopped knocking, I went to the bathroom to clean up a bit. That’s when I heard your voice asking me to open the door because Louie thinks I have someone in here. That’s what made me decide to open the door and show him that no one was home except for me.

She answered.

I then turned to Louie and said,

Come on, let’s take a look around and see if she has anyone in here!

There was no one to be found, of course.

I advised him,

Hey, man, stop overreacting and start trusting her.

And then I went on my way.

To this day, I believe Louie never found out what actually took place that day.

1966 Winter

The ‘Ben Hur’ Freezer Incident!

To begin with, my parents had a very large ‘Ben Hur’ lift top freezer in the finished basement of our house, where we would have house parties. One winter night, right after returning home from Mary’s house, I would always go into the basement and call Mary to let her know I arrived home safely. I hung up the phone with her, and suddenly it rang. I quickly picked it up so as not to wake anybody in the House.

It was Patty, wanting to be with me, you know, the Booty Call thing, to my pleasant surprise. You see, I was not intimate with Mary yet, so this was working out just great for me.

I told her,

I can’t leave the house, I just came home, so can’t this wait until tomorrow afternoon?

No, it can’t! I’ll come there.

She adamantly insisted.

Okay, come to the back door, knock softly; I will be waiting just inside the door.

I instructed her.

She walked slightly more than a mile to my house.

Keep in mind, neither one of us had a driver’s license or car, and it was very cold outside

I sat waiting on a staircase that leads down from the kitchen to an area we called the washroom, where there was a large sink, half bath, washing machine, and dryer. And also, some shelves where canned foods were kept.

This room had three doors; the one to my left would be the one where Patty would be knocking. The one to my right leads into the garage. The third door that opened into the kitchen was at the top of the staircase, where I sat at the bottom. These doors were normally kept closed. So, we would be somewhat isolated from the rest of the house. A short stairway led down in the opposite direction into the finished basement, where the lift-top freezer was to my immediate right.

(♫ ‘The Look Of Love’ ♫ Dusty Springfield)

After about twenty minutes or so, a soft knocking came at the door. I opened it with mixed feelings; she, however, knew exactly how she felt, very horny; we went down into the basement, where we spoke quietly and tried to decide where to have this intimate encounter, a.k.a. ‘Booty Call.’ There was a big easy chair, but not big enough.

We both looked at the freezer; realizing it was big enough to lie down on the top of it, we agreed it would be better than the floor.

After the somewhat uncomfortable encounter, she stayed for a little while; we held each other in that aforementioned big chair.

I softly said,

It’s very late, and I do need to get some sleep because it’s a school night.

Sadly, she had to leave.

I told her.

I will be waiting for your phone call to let me know you made it home safely.

We kissed; for what I didn’t know then, it would be our last time.

Her phone call came about twenty minutes after she left; she had made it home safely. I answered it quickly so as not to let it have a complete ring.

Hello, Patty?

Yes, Jim, thank you for tonight; I will always love you; good night.

She elated to me.

Yeah, okay, good night.

I hung up the phone and shook my head, wondering if what just had happened actually did take place, or am I really upstairs in my bed, asleep dreaming all this. I quietly replied somewhat impassively. Because of some physical evidence, I realized I was not dreaming and then went upstairs to bed.

This was the last time I would ever see or talk to Patricia. Sadly to this day, I haven’t had any contact with her. So I don’t know how her life turned out. I do hope she received what she wanted in her life. Not knowing makes my heart feel as cold as the inside of that big ol’ Ben Hur Freezer.

3

MARY AND MY OLDER