Nixon returns

Nixon was a man packed well ahead of his time. He was a chain-smoker: he burned one candle after another, hurrying the flame. He walked the city thin in order to wear out certain shoes by self-inflicted deadlines. And three weeks before he was due to leave Russia forever, he counted out twenty-one Q-tips, stashed the rest in his full suitcase, and set an alarm to rouse him for the flight home. For the next twenty-one days, he cleaned his ears most thoroughly before bed, the better to hear the alarm early the next morning.

He returned to the States on the eve of Bloomsday.