Saturday Night Live

This is the old version.

Kevin Butz on Unsplash

When I was a boy, Saturday night was bath night. Preparation for the ritual was elaborate. First, the old wood-burning stove had to be encouraged or threatened to produce heat. This was no small feat.

That big, black, iron monster sat there in perpetual defiance to your best efforts. Sometimes it ate your kindling and burped a puff of smoke back at you, but…