WEBVTT

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So I'll-- the next piece of
read is called "White Bronco."

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On a visit to Los Angeles I
was sampling two new flavors

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at the Brentwood
Haagen-Dazs when

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in walked O.J. Simpson
with two very young guys

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in excellent shape.

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Seniors say the USC
football team O.J.

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wasn't in excellent shape,
not even in good shape,

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not even close.

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He was no longer a senior
on the USC football team.

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The air conditioning was on.

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I had liked O.J. ever
since I was a kid

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because my mom, a UCLA grad,
rooted in a gloating ungracious

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manner against USC.

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None of us said
anything now to O.J.

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There was shyness
to our behavior,

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but there was also a
smidgen of self-respect.

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There were maybe
six or eight people

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in the store other than me
and O.J. and his friends.

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Part of the tension
was the sheer surprise

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of seeing O.J.
ordering ice cream.

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I never had thought
of him doing something

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so mundane and unhealthy.

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In a curious way
he was unwelcome,

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or at the very least,
not wholly embraced.

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He was intruding a little
maybe by participating

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in our slovenliness.

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Gallantly, or so I
first thought, O.J.

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sought to purchase a
woman's ice cream for her.

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She suddenly looked
much prettier to me

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than she had before.

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O.J. winked at the two seniors
on the USC football team,

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applied pressure to
the crook of her arm,

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recommended rum raisin.

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I remember thinking
very specifically,

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O.J. is kind of tarnishing
his reputation here.

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This was many years before
he took the Bronco out

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for a spin on I-5.

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The woman smiled a smile that
went exactly so far and no

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further and said thank
you but no, looking at me,

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trying to get me in on this.

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I couldn't, though.

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I didn't.

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Suddenly, I was
just standing there.

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O.J. persisted, though,
reiterating his desire

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to buy an ice
cream cone for her.

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It was a little like watching a
famous suicidal accordion fold

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in upon itself.

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O.J. kept nudging the
woman up to the counter

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while she impressively,
impassively

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kept saying over
and over no thanks,

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O.J. That won't be necessary.

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I haven't quite decided yet.

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Finally, when O.J. refused
to relent, she pointed at me

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and said my boyfriend
is treating.

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"Your boyfriend?"

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one of O.J's minions
muttered in O.J.'s defense.

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"That man's your boyfriend?"

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[LAUGHTER]

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