Life on a Roller Coaster - Softcover

Mendoza, Ralph G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1440165173 ISBN 13: 9781440165177

Verlag: iUniverse, 2008

Inhaltsangabe

From a child in turmoil to a man at peace, this emotional memoir presents the often helter-skelter life of author Ralph G. Mendoza. From the sorrowful, to the hurtful, and the unfair to the pleasurable, humorous, and enjoyable, Life on a Roller Coaster narrates Mendoza's sixty-five-year journey. The account begins with his earliest memories growing up in an East Los Angeles ghetto, attending more than fifty schools between first grade and high school. For a time, his best friends were bookies and hoodlums. In Life on a Roller Coaster, Mendoza describes the many chapters in his life which include a stint in the United States Air Force, a long career with the Los Angeles Fire Department, and his experiences as a professional gambler in Las Vegas. He tells about the good and the bad-of his flight on Air Force One and meeting President Lyndon B. Johnson and Secretary of State Dean Rusk and of his seventeen-year marriage and subsequent divorce. A riveting narrative, Life on a Roller Coaster recounts Mendoza's meager beginnings in squalor to his now tranquil existence in Nevada. It's a testament of one man's determination to turn his dreams into reality.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ralph G. Mendoza, now retired, served in the United States Air Force and worked for the Los Angeles Fire Department. He has two children and currently lives in Boulder City, Nevada. This is his debut book.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Life on a Roller Coaster

By Ralph G. Mendoza

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2009 Fran Addeo, DC
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4401-6517-7

Contents

Dedication...............................................................vTable of Contents........................................................viiAcknowledgments..........................................................ixIntroduction.............................................................xiMy Obituary..............................................................xixChapter One Awakening to Life............................................1Chapter Two Learning about Life..........................................11Chapter Three Life in Yuma...............................................25Chapter Four I Live with My Brothers.....................................55Chapter Five The United States Air Force.................................81Chapter Six Married Life.................................................131Chapter Seven The Los Angeles County Fire Department.....................173Chapter Eight My "Wild-Child" Years......................................225Chapter Nine Life after Learning.........................................261Chapter Ten Life in Boulder City.........................................285Epilog...................................................................303

Chapter One

Awakening to Life

When you wake up each morning, thoughts aren't instantly clear to you, but are instead slowly becoming more apparent: like going from a misty fog into the sun's daylight. That's the way it was with my first recollections. With time my memories became focused; others were to become etched in my brain.

Almost all of my early memories are of life in Ramona Gardens which is located in East Los Angeles and which is considered a ghetto area. There were numerous buildings, each made of cement, which contained several units. Grandma Mendoza's unit was a two-story apartment, with two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and a small kitchen and living room downstairs. Several of my paternal cousins and I would stay there at Grandma's home until our mothers returned from work. Of all my cousins I liked Jo Jo best; even as a child he was funny. Jo Jo once broke his leg while doing back flips off of a high wall; the next day he was practicing jumping with one leg and continue doing back flips. Jo Jo and I were together each day during the week and would often spend the weekends together.

What I remember most about Grandma Mendoza's unit was the bedroom where all we children slept. The room had a stench when you opened the door because there were only urine-soaked mattresses on the cement floor. To this day I cannot forget how that room reeked of urine.

That is also the place where I first remember experiencing fear. In an effort to stop me from wetting my bed, Mother would dress me in a diaper and threaten to make me sit on the steps at the unit's front door. I would cry and beg her not to put me outside because that's where all the Garden kids played. I was sure they would tell everyone at Murchison Street School that they had seen Ralphie in a diaper.

When Mother and I were alone in our own unit, I was in constant fear of her having an attack. You see, Mother was an epileptic who had constant seizures so I was forced to endure each experience with her. What most-often happened was that Mother would experience an aura which she knew would always lead to a seizure. We would quickly move the furniture out of the middle of the room and she would lie down on a blanket and pillow so she wouldn't hurt herself. But when her seizure started I would be horrified and start to cry. I would place my rolled-up belt into her mouth and watch her jerk and bounce around until her seizure was over, all the while I was yelling: "Mommy, Mommy and I'm sorry!" Even though I was only five or six years old, I felt so helpless and guilty: helpless because I could not do more and guilty because I always felt that something I had done was the cause of her seizures. Those are memories I wish I could forget but even after all these years I can't. Guilt was something I learned from my earliest memories; I would continue to feel guilty about everything. I even felt guilty when I had nothing to feel guilty about!

We never lived in one place very long because Mother could not handle pressure of any kind, so instead of dealing with the problem, we would move to another place. I was constantly changing schools; I even attended the same schools three or four times. I vividly remember the last time I enrolled at Harrison Street School. I was probably in the second or third grade at the time and no longer needed anyone to go with me when I enrolled. When I walked into the office, a kind lady who remembered me asked, "Ralphie ... how long will you be with us this time?" I guess I lasted there for a month or two before we once again moved.

As time passed, Mother and I continued to live a helter-skelter life; and, after living in several places and attending many schools in Watts, Compton, South Gate and South Los Angeles, we found a nice house on Second Street in East Los Angeles. Our house was situated behind a large, wooden house. Mother seemed to like our new home, so we stayed there for over two years. Our yard was fenced so Mother allowed me have a little puppy that must have been abandoned by its owner so I kept him and named him Dog.

Dog and I would play in our yard after school and on the weekends; I was really enjoying life there. Mother seemed to enjoy it too; so she would often bake a chocolate cake with fudge frosting: it was so good when it was hot! I think I was beginning to feel secure for the first time in our little home on Second Street.

That's the way it remained until several things happened to alter our lives again. The first was when Mother met and became friends with a man named Ray. He was nice enough and took a special interest in me. After we had become friends, Ray asked Mother if he could take me to a drive-in movie. Drive-In movies were very popular at the time because you could pile the entire family into the car and bring your own food and drinks. After Ray had taken me to the movies several times, he began sitting me on his lap. That led to him placing my hand on his private parts. He never got violent but would always want me to do things I knew were sinful. When I refused to concede to his wishes he asked me not to tell my mother, so I agreed. Eventually I told Mother because, deep-down inside I felt what we were doing was an unforgivable sin. Mother immediately severed her friendship with Ray and told him never to return to our house again or she would report him to the police.

The second thing that happened was when Mother started dating a man named Roy. To look at Roy would scare anyone to death because he was covered with tattoos - even on his face! Roy had been in and out of jail for most of his life and had five or six children. But there was something very likeable about Roy. He idolized Mother and always called her La Reina because he thought of her as if she were a queen. Roy was the most-gentle man I had ever been around; which, up until that time, included my father. Although he smoked far-too much and was constantly drinking beer or wine, he still remained very gentle with both Mother and me. Mother and Roy would often drink and smoke the night away; but still we were happy. Roy was in and out of our lives almost as many times as he was in and out of jail during the time I knew him, but no matter what Mother would do to insult Roy, he would...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: iUniverse
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2008
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1440165173
• ISBN 13: 9781440165177
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 332
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Deutschland