MADAWASKA — An outsider might say Kim Thibodeau lives in two different worlds.
She was born in Fort Kent, a small Aroostook County town separated from Canada by the St. John River, a border station and an invisible line drawn by politicians of times past. About 30 years ago, she followed her boyfriend across that river to New Brunswick and settled in the Canadian city of Edmundston. Now, she returns to her birth country each morning to work at Larry’s One Stop, a Madawaska gas station that sells Canadian gas on American soil, mostly to Canadians.
Two sets of laws, two sets of prices, two sets of income taxes — the reality of life on the border. For many who live in towns like Madawaska, the result isn’t two distinct worlds but one community.
External forces are threatening to pull that world apart.
“Yesterday was just a rough day,” Thibodeau said last week shortly after President Donald Trump’s last-minute …