I'm beginning to understand one of the reasons, though not the primary,
that Wayne had to quit.
I force myself to run faster, ignoring my arthritic joints and heightening blood pressure. There's a kid in front of me, running as fast as he can to escape. Even though he's a dumb, inexperienced kid, he's by no means a slow one.
My knees scream in agony as I make a 10 story drop to the next building. Even as I land I have to take 10 seconds to rest.
I don't have 10 seconds. The fact that I'm getting old isn't helping out here, where you need to be better than your best all the time.
I ignore my aching limbs and continue the chase. Even though I feel the intense beating of my heart and the wheezing of my lungs, the guy in front of me sees nothing but a gigantic bat, and he's still terrified. He looks back to see if I've caught up, trips and falls to the ground. I walk up to stand over him. He trembles with fear, although he still glares at me in a last ditch effort to seem like he's not scared.
Wonder if he'd still be scared if he knew there was a 65-year-old under the mask.
I grab him by the collar and just stare at him for a minute. By now I don't have to say anything witty or make fantastic feats of acrobatics to impress criminals. I've gained that all-important aura of danger that Wayne had, and now they look at me and want to run away.
"Don't hurt me!" He whines, trying to get me to let him go. Normally I would just let a pathetic kid like this go.
But he just slashed someone's throat in an alley. All for a couple of credits. I can't let this one go.
"Why should I?" My voice is eerily calm.
"I'll never do it again! I swear!" He's lying of course. By now I can tell when someone's truthful or not.
I walk over to the edge of building, holding him over it. The kid begins sweating bullets, thinking I'm going to drop him to his death.
"You're right. You won't."
"I should have never gone up against Batman. I should have known that someone so powerful would catch me." The kid says, trying to suck up to me. I don't bat an eyelid. I let the kid drop. The kid lets out a bloodcurdling scream for the 5 seconds that he's in the air and then swallows it in surprise as he lands safely on the fire escape below him.
I turn and begin to walk off. I don't need to fly. I've learned that there's no reason to be in a hurry out here.
And I allow myself the smile that I had to repress with a criminal- the smile at the fact that he shouldn't have gone up against Batman.
I force myself to run faster, ignoring my arthritic joints and heightening blood pressure. There's a kid in front of me, running as fast as he can to escape. Even though he's a dumb, inexperienced kid, he's by no means a slow one.
My knees scream in agony as I make a 10 story drop to the next building. Even as I land I have to take 10 seconds to rest.
I don't have 10 seconds. The fact that I'm getting old isn't helping out here, where you need to be better than your best all the time.
I ignore my aching limbs and continue the chase. Even though I feel the intense beating of my heart and the wheezing of my lungs, the guy in front of me sees nothing but a gigantic bat, and he's still terrified. He looks back to see if I've caught up, trips and falls to the ground. I walk up to stand over him. He trembles with fear, although he still glares at me in a last ditch effort to seem like he's not scared.
Wonder if he'd still be scared if he knew there was a 65-year-old under the mask.
I grab him by the collar and just stare at him for a minute. By now I don't have to say anything witty or make fantastic feats of acrobatics to impress criminals. I've gained that all-important aura of danger that Wayne had, and now they look at me and want to run away.
"Don't hurt me!" He whines, trying to get me to let him go. Normally I would just let a pathetic kid like this go.
But he just slashed someone's throat in an alley. All for a couple of credits. I can't let this one go.
"Why should I?" My voice is eerily calm.
"I'll never do it again! I swear!" He's lying of course. By now I can tell when someone's truthful or not.
I walk over to the edge of building, holding him over it. The kid begins sweating bullets, thinking I'm going to drop him to his death.
"You're right. You won't."
"I should have never gone up against Batman. I should have known that someone so powerful would catch me." The kid says, trying to suck up to me. I don't bat an eyelid. I let the kid drop. The kid lets out a bloodcurdling scream for the 5 seconds that he's in the air and then swallows it in surprise as he lands safely on the fire escape below him.
I turn and begin to walk off. I don't need to fly. I've learned that there's no reason to be in a hurry out here.
And I allow myself the smile that I had to repress with a criminal- the smile at the fact that he shouldn't have gone up against Batman.