Border to Border: A Story from Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events

In this story from Kevin Moffett's dazzling new collection, Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events, an immigrant working at an amusement park faces a daunting, dramatic decision when he loses one of his dental crowns. "Having a choice," Maxim realizes, "only meant he was going to make the wrong choice."

Stationed at Small World, Maxim sells bells from a cart beneath an oak tree. Beside an erratic coworker, he confronts the indignity of a broken molar swallowed over cafeteria lunch.

Without insurance, a replacement tooth costs sixteen hundred dollars—two hundred and fifty hours of wages. The park dentist cheerfully suggests the only free remedy: waiting for the swallowed hardware to pass and retrieving it.

• Immigrant Experience: Maxim endures park visitors perpetually guessing his nationality while his Dominican coworker in the Estonian bell cart invents outrageous folklore to hustle passersby.
• Workplace Satire: Behind the scenes of the Small World resort, the staff cafeteria serves up culinary cross-cultural mashups like Irish lasagna and cheeseburger sushi.
• Unrequited Romance: He pines for Paula, a radiant American guide from the Global Superpowers Pavilion who cheerfully lectures parkgoers on freedom while offering well-meaning advice on his dental plight.
• Dark Comedy: An eccentric on-site dentist inspects Maxim’s bite through a jeweler’s loupe, complimenting his Midwestern dental work before bluntly outlining the financial reality of having no insurance.