Superman!

There is no way to write about my childhood without talking about my Aunt Gloria, whom everyone always called “Gloria”. My father's sister, she lived with us while we were at the Pine Avenue house; and I thought she was the greatest thing ever. Gloria was 4'4” tall, and didn't loom like the other adults. She had a huge personality, and she thought I hung the moon. How could I not love her?

Gloria had moved to Huntsville from Mobile in the wake of the Brookley AFB closure, and she got a job with NASA as a secretary. She lived with us while we were at The Bat Cave on Pine Avenue. When she met William, whom she later married, she would even take me on dates with him. I thought it was awesome, because they would let me have Zero candy bars. (Mom and Dad wouldn't let me have them, because I didn't actually like them, and never ate the whole thing. But, really, a WHITE chocolate bar! How cool is that?) Occasionally, if I was very good, Mom and Dad would let me sleep in her bed. She would tell me bedtime stories, when I did sleep with her; and the young Batman thought her repertoire was huge. I learned to love scary stories from her. I don't remember the stories now; but one was called The Little Devil Story, and it scared the pants off of me. The Big Devil Story, on the other hand, scared me so badly that I had to be in a particularly brave mood to listen to it. I wasn't that brave very often. I loved them! Ever since then, scary stories have made me happy.

Gloria would read to me, and play with me; and I looked forward to her arrival every day after work. One day something happened that she talked about for years. When she got home, I saw that she was wearing a red dress that had an exceptionally large collar in the back. I greeted her with, “Gloria, let's play Superman and Batman! You don't have to change clothes. You already have a cape on!”

I never lived it down.