In all my many decades, I don’t think I have ever considered leaving Saskatchewan, Canada for citizenship in the United States of America.
But if I had ever had such a desire, I would pick Montana as my first choice for my new environment. Going to Big Sky Country from Land of Living Skies would hopefully mean a seamless transition as far as location is concerned.
With an uncle having lived near Browning, Mont. for many years of his cowboy life, that connection perhaps drove me to pick Montana. Some holiday travel stops in Browning, Great Falls, Butte, Billings, Belt, Havre, Malta and Scobey solidified my unconscious choice. My day in Scobey as part of Mrs. Garner’s Accordion Band is forever etched into my memory — marching in that community’s parade prior to the fair, and then being part of the entertainment at the fair — might almost qualify me as an honorary citizen of Big Sky Country.
Even some of the gruesome scenes in the television series, Yellowstone, that I recently binge-watched have not turned me away from my chosen state, although I could run a class in vocabulary expansion for the script writers. The big sky of the state and the dedication shown to the land is surely what binds Saskatchewan and Montana.
I am an avid reader of books by B.J. Daniels so when I saw the novel, Out of the Storm, a book in the Buckhorn, Montana series, I eagerly took it home to read at my leisure.
As I read her words woven through romance and mystery and without giving away the plot and the outcome, she took me as her reader on a journey, a journey that ultimately brought the heroine and her fiancé to meet his sketchy associates right here at home in Moose Jaw, via the Port of Morgan, Val Marie and Swift Current, onto No. 2 Highway south of Moose Jaw.
In one conversation in the book, a character muses: “Why go to Saskatchewan? It looks just like Eastern Montana, only flatter.”
At the border crossing, they told the agents they were heading to Swift Current to shop for wedding supplies, until a highway patrol officer in Saskatchewan re-directed them to Moose Jaw where they came across a creek and a subdivision of large lots that appeared to have been built around an old farmhouse where the bad guys hung out.
The Moose Jaw adventure also involved a wedding dress shop and a body shop where adjustments were apparently made to vehicles for transport of drugs back into Montana. And there was a scuffle at a local hotel which had a parking garage.
There are many twists and turns and surprising characters in the book that made for excellent non-stop reading. At the end I wondered: “how and why did the author pick out Moose Jaw for her book?”
I sent off an e-mail to B.J. Daniels, asking those questions, and making an observation of my own. “I suspect our police chief might be unhappy to think of our city as an exchange point for drugs heading into Montana, all in good humour, of course.”
The return e-mail gave some explanations: “A good friend of mine was born there (Moose Jaw) so I wanted to put it in a book. Also, I have been there. Had some wonderful Thai food there years ago. Also, I live in Montana about 50 miles from the border. Before COVID, we often crossed up to Val Marie to the Chinese place up there. We love visiting Canada and it’s our close neighbor. I hear from a lot of Canadians who read my books. So, I suppose it was only natural to head north. My husband and I went to Val Marie last February (before COVID) for our anniversary. Ate Chinese food and came back through as part of my research to see what crossing the border was like. I remember when it was pretty simple compared to now. I like to get it right in my books. Have a nice evening and apologies to your chief of police!!”
Thanks to B.J. Daniels for deciding to include Moose Jaw in her book. Maybe one of these days, I might do some sleuthing to find the subdivision by a creek just outside Moose Jaw where some of the action took place.
I hope the next time B.J. Daniels and her husband are able to visit Moose Jaw, they will give me a call so we can chat in person. I won’t tell the police chief though!
Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
