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Page numbers refer to the 1993 edition of the collection One Good Story, That One.

Reading Check

1. A duty-free shop (Page 134)

2. Because he is a minor (Page 137)

3. Her ex-boyfriend (Page 139)

4. In their car (Pages 140-141)

5. He says, “[J]ustice was a hard damn thing to get but we shouldn’t give up.” (Page 143)

Short Answer

1. The narrator and his mother will go to Salt Lake City in order to visit his sister, Laetitia. His description implies that he is located in Canada, since he states that she had “moved across the line.” (Page 131)

2. The narrator is surprised that Coutts was the name of the town on the Canadian side since it sounded “abrupt and rude”, and that Sweetgrass was on the American side, since it sounded similar to other smaller towns on the Canadian side. (Page 134)

3. The narrator’s mother answers “Blackfoot” to the border guards’ questions of “Citizenship.” This is problematic since the guards are expecting to hear an answer of an internationally recognized nation-state (i.e., Canada or United States) as opposed to a native community. (Pages 135-136)

4. The narrator and his mother bring Mel a hat from Salt Lake City. He says that the narrator’s mother is an “inspiration.