Hallelujah Dave
A Story of Mischief, Passion, and Hope
by
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By the middle of summer, 1961, I was 11 years old and my life was about to crumble. We had barely moved into our new “glamorous” home on River Street. Mom just had a hysterectomy and Dad was regularly coming home late. One late night I peered through the crack in the door between my bedroom and the living room. There I saw my mom slapping my dad worse than anything I had ever seen. My dad didn’t strike back. He simply tried to deflect the blows. All over my dad’s face was lipstick. On his collar and shirt was the crimson color of the kisses of a lovers tryst. “Get out, Get out. Don’t ever come back. Leave me, leave me.”
A little later I went over to my mom and tried to console her. I was old enough to know what was going on. As the tears flowed down her face, I could feel the convulsive sobs within me begin as I knew I lost a dad and Mom lost her man.
My dad came home the next day. My mom hadn’t slept a wink. I knew she played and replayed in her mind everything that had happened the night before. My mom began to cry,
“You can have that woman any time you want, just come home to your family, your kids.” Mom’s eyes became a torrent of tears.
Dad didn’t say anything as my mom fell to her knees and then on her face. She clutched the ankles of my father so tightly that the muscles of her frail arms quivered like a fevered child. She never looked up as she wailed,
“No me dejas, no me dejas.” (Don’t leave me, don’t leave me)
One by one my father unwrapped each finger of her hand from his feet and each time my mom’s cries became louder. I was collapsing on the inside never before feeling the total desperation of a shattered heart. My sister Lucy had tears in her eyes but there was anger exploding within her. She raced outside and got in the car. Lucy was going to run that man down when he came out. At 15 years old, she was going to make right what he had made wrong.
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About the Book
A boy of Mexican immigrants has an unusual gift, the recollection of his birth. As he grows up in Middle America, he is rocked between mischief and love, elation and despair. He becomes entangled in the hippie movement of the ’60s. Later, in the midst of his chemistry studies at the University of Illinois, he becomes ensnarled in the Vietnam antiwar movement. It is there, in high school and college, where his life goals are crystallized and he maps out his life. There are things that he must do and must become. Yet somehow, impacting him are three short letters he received in his life and a chance meeting that changes everything. Though he tries, he cannot escape his future. It was made with hands bigger than his own.
My friend, Dave Valdez, tells the very personal story of his life journey. Growing up in poverty, he beats the odds, as an unseen hand guides him through many situations and circumstances that would have defeated most. In today’s education system, Dave would be labeled gifted and talented. In the 1950’s he was labeled Mexican.
Dave has a remarkable inner strength that fiercely hangs on to bits of praise and encouragement when life is unfair. He refuses to embrace bitterness. His is truly a story of hope.
As Dave navigates his teens years he develops a talent to avoid unwelcome conflicts. He runs. He runs from his mom, his dad, neighbors, and cops. But he could not outrun the unseen hand. At the University of Illinois, in his early 20’s, he is challenged to consider the reality of God. So here, the young, rebellious, brilliant, chemistry major begins to stop running. A new chapter in his life begins to unfold.
Dave doesn’t beat you over the head with his conversion experience, he reveals it as it happened, and asks you to consider the hope he has found.
Hallelujah Dave is a great read. It is the true story of my friend, a man who discovers he is blessed and chooses to bless others.
About the Author
David Valdez was born and raised along the Fox River Valley of Illinois. He has written numerous articles in chemical journals during his career and dabbled in poetry. Upon retirement, his wife told him to start writing his dramatic and humorous stories that his family has enjoyed over the past forty years. David now lives with his wife, Judy, and dog, Ally, in Ellijay, Georgia.