Kimberly Guerrero

So Leticia wrote to someone in Salt Lake City and about a month later, she got a big envelope of stuff.

We sat at the table and opened up all the brochures and Leticia read each one out loud.

Salt Lake City is the gateway to some of the world's most magnificent skiing.

Salt Lake City is the home to one of the newest professional basketball franchises, the Utah Jazz.

The great Salt Lake is one of the most natural wonders in the world.

It was kind of exciting seeing all those color brochures on the table and listening to Letitia read all about how Salt Lake City was one of the best places in the entire world.

That Salt Lake City sounds too good to be true, my mother told her.

It has everything.

We got everything right here.

It's boring here.

People in Salt Lake City are probably sending away for brochures of Calgary and Lethbridge and Pincher Creek right now.

In the end, my mother would say that maybe Letitia should go to Salt Lake City.

And Letitia would say that maybe she would.

We parked the car on the side of the building and Carol led us into the small room on the second floor.

I found a comfortable spot on the couch and flipped through some back issues of Saturday Night and Alberta Report.

When I woke up, my mother was just coming out of another office.

She didn't say a word to me.

I followed her down the stairs and out to the car.

I thought we were going home, but she turned the car around and drove back toward the American border, which made me think we were going to go visit Letitia and Salt Lake City after all.

But instead, she pulled into the parking lot of the duty-free store and stopped.