My first year living in Los Angeles, I was a birthday-party clown. I struggled a lot with my identity because, though I viewed myself as a 1 everyone in my life viewed me as this 2 day job. To make matters more confusing, being a clown is3an identity-masking job.
One night, someone said:" Tomorrow you're going to be Batman." At the time I had a giant mustache. I knew: a clown with a mustache—that's a huge red 4for parents. But I hadn't wanted to5 my physical appearance for that job,
The next day, I went to the party and I had to leave my car 6 far enough away so that the kids couldn't see Batman 7 in a PT Cruiser (PT漫步车). I popped in through the front door:" Surprise! Batman's here!" All the kids 8. But they didn't want to see Batman sweaty and panting from a brisk jog, so I just kept 9 . I started to regret my choice to not 10 . I'm thinking, "Gosh, this party is not going to go well." I'm so embarrassed. I wanted to11 and run back to my Bat mobile. But then the laughter kind of merges and changes into cheering and applause.
Then I was still about 20 yards away from the party12 I just started running and my cape was billowing(鼓起) in the13 , and—mustache or not—in that moment, I was Batman.
I saw the birthday boy with his dad, and the14 was laughing, saying, "You see, son. I told you Batman had a mustache." Just then I saw the 15 birthday cake with a frosting Batman drawn on it, and the Batman has a mustache. I just stared at it in16 . It looked just like my mustache.
Those kids were at the perfect age where they still believed in miracles and heroes and that the world is an17 good place—all the stuff that's so difficult for us to keep believing 18 we grow up in a cold and complicated world.
That year, I struggled a lot with my19 ; was I a filmmaker, or was I a clown? But that day, at least, there was 20 in my mind what I was. I may not have been the hero that they expected. But that day, I was the hero that they needed.
