Date: 20 July 2014
Location: Dayton, TN
The Bookers went north over the weekend of July 18, 2014. We got there a bit late (like 89 years) for the main show. All the original actors have quit the stage, escorted out by death. We had to make the best of our lateness by visiting with the ghosts of the departed.
Darrow’s ghost did not look well. He’s lost both weight and spark. He no longed had his squared chin and his bulldog look. He seemed equally disliked as the original had been, but the dislike display was not as vigorous as once. He drew not a single rotten tomato and only three rotten eggs over a two-day span. In his heyday, he would have attracted more bombardment than that with every step he took.
Bryan’s ghost, in body, was a fair likeness of the original — looking pompous, self-righteous, and bloated with gas, not the pump variety, the digestive track variety. The good likeness was in body only. In elocution, vocabulary, expression, emotion, and stirring the pot of bigotry until it boiled-over, this ghost did not have a ghost of a chance. The original was an impossible act to follow in the verbosity department.
Scopes’ ghost was much like the original — young, innocent, a little confused by all that was going on, over-shadowed by the big boys, and anxious for the show to be over so he could leave the place.
The ghost of Judge Raulson was not up to the main part, that is posing for the camera 100 times each day and trying to kiss Byran’s butt more frequently. (I must not be too harsh on Raulson’s ghost, it is might nigh impossible for one ghost to kiss the butt of another ghost.)
Only a hand-full of the minor ghosts dignified the Booker’s late appearance. In fact, the only minors I saw were those of: H. L. Mencken, writer for the Baltimore Sun, John Smithy, wearing his sandwich sign that proclaimed he was Bible champion of the world, Ed McCraken of Selma, Alabama , still loudly explaining why a Catholic could not be a Christian, and the ghosts of Joe and Linda Berry. The latter two, of all the minors, played their roles to perfection. Linda’s ghost was still telling Joe’s ghost, “Don’t stand there with your mouth closed, looking stupid. Open it and say something thereby removing all doubt.” Joe’s ghost obeyed, fully proving Linda’s point.
After tucking the ghosts away for another season, the band of Bookers quietly slipped back to their beds, enjoyed a good night of rest and, the following morning, engaged in a splendid discussion of the events of 1925 in the sleepy town of Dayton. In this discussion, Joe was more assertive than the night before. Several times, with no prompting he proved Linda’s point by opening his mouth.
It was a fun trip. Nay, a splendid trip.
— Joe
