ABSTRACT

The car being clean, they now turned to my life, which was far harder to search. They questioned me about my identity, activities, exchanges and purchases, friends, travels and above all what made me different from the men and women allowed to zip across the border without question or a thought. Every card, every piece of paper in my wallet was checked. I was asked to explain my credit card receipts. A bill for $500 from a small-town garage for the purchase of four new tyres aroused suspicion and led to more questions. A receipt for an airline ticket to Atlanta raised alarm. ‘What was the purpose of your trip to Atlanta?’ asked the officer. ‘A book I had written was featured at a conference,’ I replied. What, he asked suspiciously, was the subject of that book?