The off-white minivan swerved a little as it negotiated the college driveway.
"Sorry about that," muttered the kid who'd volunteered to chauffeur Baldwin.
The controversial author and speaker had himself been a student just four years earlier. He was about halfway through a campus tour. Earlier appearances had been met by youthful protesters, waving slogan-scrawled placards and blocking traffic. There were usually a couple of news cameras present - which surely stoked spectacle - and there was, occasionally, even property destruction.
"But the buzz from the underground says this time, the protesters will try a different tack," said Baldwin's assistant.
The author dispensed with the notes he'd been reviewing. "New in what way?"
"They want to embarrass you in the middle of the whole thing. They figure you can challenge them in substantive argument, y'know offer superior logic. But once people ridicule someone, it's hard for them to be taken seriously, again."
The minivan slowed as it neared a milling gaggle of protesters. They sighted Baldwin's approach and began chanting.
Baldwin began to look away. But a cute Taiwanese girl caught his masculine eye. She was classically voluptuous. Jiggling beneath her powder-blue blouse were generous, pointed bosoms that jutted provocatively. Black, sheeny tresses cascaded over her shoulders. And her glossy red lips, which were at the moment contorted in sneering chant, appeared plumpish and tender.
When she spun to display her "Ban Baldwin" sign to new arrivals,
he noted her heart-shaped derriere. Skin-tight blue jeans strained to contain its magnificent swell.
Within seconds, the alluring young woman and her fellow students were in the rearview mirror.
"Are you expecting disruption?" An out-of-breath reporter asked.
Baldwin continued walking toward the lecture hall. Several cameras followed him. But he ignored both reporters and protesters.
Inside, he put his notes in order. He stepped onstage. It wasn't a terribly large room, but it was filled. Many expectant listeners. A few cameras in back of the listeners.
Two skirted tables had been set end-to-end, onstage, with a table-top podium and mic in the center.
Baldwin introduced himself, welcomed the crowd, and launched into his standard address. It was a mainly routine economic dissertation, though sprinkled with his unique political observations that had long stirred controversy.
During his presentation, he considered the audience. Most listened attentively. A few, here and there, muttered asides to companions.