Batman!

We moved from The Pink Palace after six months, and moved to Pine Avenue (just off of Governor's Drive in Huntsville). It was at this time, shortly before my 4^th birthday, that I answered Gotham City's call for a fearless crime fighter. The Joker, The Riddler, The Penguin, and other mange-minded mayhem-makers were threatening the peace and tranquility of Gotham. I decided to come to the rescue, and thus I became Batman. Please don't misunderstand - I wasn't pretending to be Batman. I was The Real Batman. You may have seen stories from my life. Adam West regularly pretended to be me on television and, in later years, many famous actors brought my stories to the screen. My impact on American culture was significant and, to this day, I have a fondness for the songs that I inspired; but I digress from the tale of Batman's origins.

I knew that I had to have some faithful assistants in order to create my alter ego, since even Bruce Wayne must have his Alfred. I enlisted my parents, hoping that I could trust them with a secret of this magnitude. My mother made my Bat-costume. She made a black cape, with hat and ears; then she attached fringes to a pair of black gloves. My father was in charge of creating the Batmobile. He converted a child's pedal car into The Batmobile by painting it black, putting the Bat-logo on the side, and installing an atomic reactor for a power source. I enlisted both private industry and the US Government in the creation of the all-important Bat Utility Belt. We sent in about a billion breakfast cereal boxtops and ordered a spy utility belt, which was then transferred to the US Post Officefor delivery. In order to make a full transition from Bruce Wayne to Batman, I had my mother put the Bat-Logo on everything: pillowcases, t-shirts, and underwear. With my Bat-Identity complete, I embarked upon a career of crime-fighting that was unmatched in modern history.

I remember the utility belt especially. We had just gotten in the car to go somewhere when the mailman brought the package up and handed it into the car. It was awesome. It was a beautiful yellow, made of that wonderful, high-grade, molded plastic that they use when making toys that you can order with box tops. I thought how great it was to be the only person in America with a utility belt like that. I used that utility belt to hold all of my amazing Bat-tools: a Batarang, the Bat-cuffs, the Bat-laser, Bat-signaling devices, and many more. My imagination was the only limit to the tools I could put in the utility belt.

I fought crime and foiled evil plots until someone stole the Batmobile.