My baby-sitter

was a born again Christian,

and a old movie fan.

***

I remember she’d let us

stay up late watching the

old, black & white movies

on the UHF channels.

***

And some-times

the passage of time between the

action on the screen

and our watching it on the little tv

would become too much for her,

and she would say, wistfully,

***

“Do you see all those people?

They’re all burning in hell.”