{"id":1021,"date":"2019-05-02T08:19:26","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T15:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1021"},"modified":"2019-05-02T17:16:46","modified_gmt":"2019-05-03T00:16:46","slug":"blanche-and-dennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1021","title":{"rendered":"Blanche and Dennis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Blanche had the dinner done for the \u201cboys\u201d as she called them.\nShe checked for the ingredients for tomorrows dinner and said good bye to the\nhashers who would do the dishes and clean up. \u201cMake sure you get that grill\nclean tonight. I\u2019m doing pancakes in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes Blanche,\u201d they said in unison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She didn\u2019t figure she had time to go out to Walmart and get\nhome to make dinner for Dennis, her 10-year-old grandson, so she stopped at\nAskers in her small town. The 20-minute drive was twilight in this early spring\nevening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She shuffled her groceries to the checkout where Randy, the\nowner greeted her. \u201cHow you doing Blanche?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy feet and my back hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou still cooking for that fraternity?\u201d He started ringing\nup the items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah. On my feet all day and bending wears me out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know where you could get some hydros. They\u2019re all over\nthis town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blanche stared at Randy. \u201cI ain\u2019t that bad.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, I\u2019m not selling any, just saying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat stuff is how Melanie got started.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow is your daughter? You still got her boy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe\u2019s OK; maybe out this summer. Yeah, Dennis is with me. I\ngotta go make him dinner and check his homework.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou hear the governor has a plan for that opioid problem? I\nread he\u2019s going to make an order about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blanche looked off. \u201cThat\u2019s the second time today somebody\u2019s\ntold me he was going to solve our problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, I guess he was here to talk to the fraternity boys\nabout staying here in Idaho. They ate it up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, they gotta make a living. How\u2019s little Dennis doing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a good kid. But Melanie was too at that age. I don\u2019t\nknow where things changed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe did have him young, didn\u2019t she?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSixteen. I had her when I was fifteen. Wasn\u2019t no big deal\nback then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had the items bagged and totaled. Blanche was looking in\nher purse for her cash. She put the twenty on the counter. \u201cIt\u2019s $23.46\nBlanche. Did you want credit?\u201d She looked deeper: a five and four ones would\nhave to get her through the week. Good thing she had gas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo credit. That\u2019s as bad as those pills. Here you go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randy rang it up. \u201cYou know Blanche, you\u2019re a hard-working\nwoman. I\u2019m sure the governor\u2019s plan will help out Melanie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat she really needs is a good job.\u201d Blanche looked Randy\nin the eye. \u201cYou hiring?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randy looked down and closed the cash drawer, putting the\ncoins on the counter. He paused a while and glanced at Blanche. \u201cI don\u2019t know\nBlanche. I really have to be able to trust the folks I hire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blanche sighed deep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randy perked up. \u201cMaybe that governor\u2019s plan can help\nMelanie with treatment and counseling, since we expanded that Medicare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blanche grinned. \u201cYou sure know your politics. How do you\nfind the time?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not busy in the day much here. I read the papers and\nthen fold them back up.\u201d He grinned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blanche tried again. \u201cYou get a good worker in here and you\ncould buy one and do the crossword.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll think about it. I can\u2019t pay much either, just so you\nknow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blanche took her bag and waved and smiled as she left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dennis had the house clean and had finished his homework. After\ntheir dinner Blanche checked it and his spelling was getting better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHey Dennis, do you know who is the governor of Idaho?\u201d\nBlanche asked the fifth-grader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s a governor?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, he\u2019s the boss of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dennis frowned and looked down. \u201cSo, he\u2019s the man who made\nmommy stay away?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blanche looked down, sorry she\u2019d tried something new. \u201cNo,\nDennis, your mom broke the law and she has to pay for her mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dennis had heard this before. \u201cWho is the governor?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blanche blushed. \u201cI don\u2019t know his name, but he\u2019s supposed\nto help us out. Good bosses do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blanche had the dinner done for the \u201cboys\u201d as she called them. She checked for the ingredients for tomorrows dinner and said good bye to the hashers who would do the dishes and clean up. \u201cMake sure you get that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[13,15,14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1021"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1023,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021\/revisions\/1023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}