Nixon was here last night – at the Hickory Community Theatre. He’s changed. Doesn’t look like he used to. But it was him. I could feel him. My flesh crawled uneasily beneath my shirt, wondering what it should do next. I told it “Cool it. It’s not really Nixon, don’t worry” Then he opened his mouth and Nixon came out, and I didn’t know what to say. I just sat there real tight.
The performance tonight brought it all back again – just for tonight only, but that is more than enough if you remember the real thing. It’s like when something really rough happens to you and you are in shock for a while, and you get over it and begin to forget about it. But then – you have a dream, and it all comes back. This was that dream taking place tonight at the Hickory Community Theatre, where the stage slowly faded away and turned into my own memory.
Frost came here tonight too. Sir David, as he has now become known. Insouciant as always, tuned into some other frequency, one that is inaudible to earthlings but suitable for tripping through the various heavens, occasionally stopping here and there – tonight he stopped in Hickory. Because Nixon was here. And they met again in battle. Nixon won, of course. It wasn’t even a close contest. Nothing ever is with Nixon. But Nixon STILL doesn’t know when enough is enough - he only know how to kill – he never learned how to quit when he was ahead and he blew it again tonight. Just like Nixon always did.
My hat is off to Joshua Propst who played David Frost, and Ralph Mangum who played Richard Nixon.
