Borders

Borders is a really, really good story! The fact that it was first published nearly thirty years ago detracts from that not one bit, and the graphic-novel format may well bring it to the attention of even more readers than did its inclusion in King's collection of short stories, One Good Story, That One, although, if you google the title, you will find that it is on high-school curricula and has study guides to go with it. So perhaps it won't get more attention, just attention from a somewhat different audience. Having the whole text online does no harm either.

The excerpt above gives the reasons why Laetitia did not go to Salt Lake, but not why she did go. Partly it was because she was bored on the reserve, but mostly it was that she had told her brother she was going to leave, he had told their mother, and so she couldn't not leave. Pride. It's a theme. However she did well; she got a good job; she rented a nice apartment. And finally her mother decides they would go south and visit. All goes well until they reached the border. Canadian side: no problem. American side: "Citizenship ma'am?" "Blackfoot". No compromises. After a good deal of waiting about and palaver, the Americans sent the two of them back to the Canadian border where it was also not acceptable to be Blackfoot rather than Canadian or American. Next day was a replay -- different border guards, same questions rephrased to be more persuasive in a "good cop, bad cop" sort of scenario, but "Blackfoot" was still not an acceptable answer. By this time, they had eaten all the picnic food they had brought along, and the only other person in the no-man's-land between the two border stations, Mel, the proprietor of the duty-free shop, was shaking his head over the stupidity of it all. "You'd think they could handle the simple stuff!" he says. The boy hopes Mel will bring them some food the next day, hamburgers preferred, but, instead, he enlists the media (who do bring food, though not burgers). By the time the boy and his mother have been on the six o'clock news, it's time to try the waters again. "Anything to declare?" "No." "Citizenship?" "Blackfoot." A gulp from yet another guard and then, "Have a pleasant trip. Ma'am", and they are on their way. Pride again, vindicated this time. They have a great visit in Salt Lake City and no problems coming home.

Mom had planned all this. She had packed lots of picnic; both she and the boy dressed up "so as not to look like Americans". She knew the border people wouldn't like her declaration of citizenship. However, as the boy says, "Pride is a good thing to have, you know. Laetitia had a lot of pride and so did my mother. I figured that someday I'd have it too." In the meantime, the boy just wants to get moving -- and eating! -- preferably south (and in a restaurant). He tries telling the border guard that he is Blackfoot, and Canadian, but the guard says it doesn't count because he is a minor. Pride is obviously an expensive thing, costing just about everything you have.

As I said, it's a great story, and I think it translates well into the graphic format. Unfortunately, I have seen only the pre-publication version in black-and-white which makes it difficult to assess its final impact. The visual differences between the girl Laetitia and her mother, for one thing, are not striking so that I was sometimes not sure who was saying what. The youthfulness and naiveté of the boy, on the other hand, comes through loud and clear in the pictures, as does the discomfiture of the final border guard, economically revealed by a stand-alone frame showing the perspiration on his forehead. Mel, too, is fully described and characterized by the very few frames in which he appears, small, wizened and exasperated, and the reader is certain, without being told, that it was through him that the media were mobilized. Very effectively! I look forward to seeing the final version, and, in the meantime, highly recommend Borders in either of its formats.