Stardate 99120.6. Epilogue.
And so we come to an end of the end of “The Chezzy Chronicles: the life of Rudy.”
Truth be told. The “Life of Rudy” series should have concluded in the spring of 1968 With the receipt of a wedding invitation from Nancy Lau, who was to marry Lieutenant Richard Kloos in white Sands, New Mexico. In the end, this signaled the back of my dependence upon my alter ego of Rudy Vallentine.
There are vast gaps in the narration of the life of Rudy. Part of that is because of memory. A large part can be attributed to nothing untoward that happened.
In reading over the last 12 chapters. I realize that this chronicle reads more like a. Series of amorous conquests. Then a true Life story.
Autobiographies are a Bich to write. You never know what to include. And what to leave out for the sake of those Participants in my it I have tried to be fair in my characterizations of those appearing in this autobiography. Rather tricky after 60 years and without any input from the people that lived through this with me. Therefore, I shall attempt to humanize the characters that appear in this series.
Forgive me if I occasionally go off on flights of fancy, as this is more a piece of entertainment than a documentary.
Starting with. Chapter one, genesis.
I have to acknowledge The massive contribution That my family has made to my character development. Both natural and alternate. Like most of life, the adventures occurred in the summer of 1962. were a series of unexpected events. If this had taken place in the Marvel Universe? There would be a bunch of what-ifs. That could be drawn from that summer. What if my cousins had not taken me to the—Watson home? Therefore, never meeting Mary Alice. And that happened, sent. Rudy Valentine would never have existed.
Granted, the interaction between myself and Mary Alice should have just been a passing puppy love. Is that sad? Never having had a committed love interest before that time. Mary made a more significant impact on me than she should have.
What if the love interests in my life before Mary Alice (yeah, there were some) had borne fruit? Or what if Rudy had emerged during my failed four-year pursuit of my next-door neighbor Mona? Or during my infatuation with Cecelia Engle through ninth grade?
I guess it is significant that I recall Cecilia’s surname but have no clue what Mona’s surname is/was/whatever!
Mona came into my life sometime in 1958 when my family relocated from the Bronx, NY, into a cold flat located at 775 Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn. Mona lived on the 2nd floor of 773 Flatbush and was initially of no consequence, as my 11-year-old persona had very little interest in girls. Still. Mona and I had frequent conversations over the years and during the interim, she became an extremely comely young woman. Blessed with dusky, sultry good looks and a bubbly personality, she soon had my romantic interest. I, on the other hand, remained simply a good friend and sometimes conversation partner. Ergo, while Mona was involved in my life for the better part of eight years, she was of no consequence to Rudy.
Cecelia Engle may or may not have interacted since 6th grade at PS 92 and on into Walt Whitman JHS. However, she did not enter my universe until 9 grade and class 9-11. Cecelia was cute as a button and I was heavily entranced by her. Her 1961 yearbook description was:”Could be an angel, could be a saint, could be quiet, but that she ain’t.” Which I would take to mean that she was something of a chatterbox. Still, I remember spending ninth grade in pursuit of her. But like all other pre-Rudy girls, Out of my reach. While I am certain she went on to Erasmus hall, as I did, my last memory of her was leaving the yard outside of Walt Whitman on graduation day.
The only other significant female in my life in that time period was my cousin Louis Sanabria’s stepdaughter, Paula. Paula was an olive-skinned beauty with black hair and a sultry New Yorican accent which drove the guys crazy. She lived in my old neighborhood in The Bronx and I could be found virtually every weekend at her home in the Bronx. While I had a crush on her, I got the impression that the situation embarrassed her.