“No.”

“Then what happened to Nixon?”

“He resigned.”

“He resigned? Presidents don’t resign. Ohmigod. If he resigned, that means Spiro T. Agnew is the president of the United States.”

They exchanged significant glances again. I was really beginning to wish they wouldn’t do that.

“Agnew resigned as well,” the doctor told me.

“They both resigned? Hand in hand, they kicked up their heels and quit?”

“Actually, Agnew resigned first. Gerald Ford was appointed to replace him.”

“The congressman from Michigan?”

“That’s right. Then Nixon resigned, and Ford took over, and he pardoned Nixon.”

“Pardoned him?”

“Yes.”

“For what?”

“For Watergate.”

“Watergate,” I said. “You mean that burglary? That blew up into something big enough to make Nixon and Agnew resign?”

“Agnew resigned because of something else. Some scandal, payoffs and kickbacks while he was governor of Maryland. Nixon resigned because he was about to be impeached, and that was because of Watergate.”

“I don’t know how you can remember all that,” the nurse said admiringly. “They taught us all that, but I can never keep it straight.”

“They taught you?” I said. “Who taught you?”

“You know. In school.”

But why would they have had to teach her? Wouldn’t she have lived through it?

Wait a minute…

“Wait a minute,” I said. “Ford’s not still the president, is he?”

“No, I’m afraid he’s not.”

“Who came after Ford?”

“Carter.”

Carter? Who was that? Aside from the fact that he was now president of the United States -

“And Reagan followed Carter, and-”

“Reagan? You don’t mean Ronald Reagan.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“The actor? He’s the president?”

“He was.”

“Was? Who’s president now?”