My
cousin, Bruno and I loved to watch the TV show, “Batman” when we were kids. We
would tuck a pillowcase into the back collar of our t-shirts for capes and run
around the block pretending to be Batman and Robin. I usually got to play
Batman because I was older (and taller). My mom knew how much I loved the show
so she bought the Ideal Batman cowl for my birthday.
My
mom and I lived on the top floor of a three-story apartment building at the
corner of Hollywood and Garfield Place while Bruno and his family lived across
the parking lot in the first house in a row of five bungalows. One day, Bruno
and I were playing “Batman” all over the parking lot when we wandered inside
the lobby of my apartment building.
My mom, my aunts, uncles and the rest of our family were at Bruno’s
place.
We
ran around the lobby, up and down the stairs, slid down the banister and tumbled
down the carpeted stairs. We ran all the way up the stairs to the third floor
when I noticed the roof access door. I thought would be ‘fun’ idea to go on the
roof so we could get a ‘bats’ eye’ view of the city. We pushed the door and set
a brick in the door jam to hold it open.
We walked around on the roof for a few minutes enjoying the spectacular
view. We sat on the edge of the roof. I suddenly got the idea that it would be
neat to swing over from the edge of the roof into the open third floor
window. We’d seen Batman and Robin
performing this stunt regularly on the show so I thought we could do it, too. I
explained the directions very well to Bruno, handed him the Batman cowl and
suggested that he be the first one to
try.
Bruno
was brave so he put on the helmet and he draped his little leg over the side. I started to give him a boost up the wall
when we heard the familiar voice of our Uncle Calvo screaming from across the
parking lot.
“Hey!
Don't you two dare move! I’m coming up there right now!“ Uncle Calvo was 6 feet
tall and very intimidating! He was
the disciplinarian at the family functions. Bruno almost fell off the roof at
this point from terror.
Our
uncle ran up the stairs and found us on the roof. He grabbed us by the ears
then shouting all the way, dragged us back to Bruno’s house for a spanking. I
remember the thud of the plastic Batman cowl hitting the tar paper roof.
Personally,
I still think the stunt would have worked. After all, we saw it on TV!