Page 40 of 107 Days

I wanted to get out of the hotel and out of my head for an hour, so we’d scheduled a lunchtime visit to a small business.

Penzeys Spices is a Wisconsin-based company that has stores in more than twenty states.

Bill Penzey, the founder of the thirty-year-old business, has long been an outspoken anti-racist and a critic of Donald Trump’s politics of division.

The company had a store not far from the hotel, so we headed over there.

Even though the visit hadn’t been on my official schedule—none of these drop-ins could be, for security reasons—a big, enthusiastic crowd gathered in the narrow street as soon as the motorcade pulled up. They started chanting “We’re not going back.”

My mother bought her spices in bulk and stored them in used Taster’s Choice coffee jars. I felt right at home in the store’s delicious aromas of cardamom, clove, and nutmeg.

I chatted with the families browsing the store.

One woman wept, saying she was afraid for the country if Trump was reelected.

“We’re going to be fine,” I reassured her.

“We are all in this together.” Before I left, I loaded up on some of my favorite Penzeys mixes—Fox Point, Creamy Peppercorn, and Trinidad Lemon-Garlic Marinade—for Cole and his wife, Greenley, the rest for me.

One day, I thought, I’ll get a chance to use them .

A couple of the pool reporters had followed me into the store. One asked: “Best part of debate prep for you?”

“Being at this spice store,” I replied.

They had no idea how much I meant it.