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Sandra White
Canton Post is Ms. Post, the crossing guard’s, son. He sits against the stop sign while she works every afternoon, doing his homework and holding a broom head in his lap. This is because last year, Ms. Post ran into the street after a boy who ran in front of a bus and was injured—and Canton began experiencing panic attacks about his mom dying. Mr. Munch, the custodian, turned the broom head into a pretend emotional support dog by drawing eyes and a mouth and gluing ears on it. In the year before “The Broom Dog” takes place, Canton has mostly gotten over his anxiety surrounding his mom dying. Indeed, he seems ready to give up the broom dog altogether when his story ends.
Canton Post Quotes in Look Both Ways
The Look Both Ways quotes below are all either spoken by Canton Post or refer to Canton Post. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
10. The Broom Dog
Quotes
“It’s…a…broom.”
“But I cleaned it. Promise. And yeah, it’s a broom, until you do this.” He petted the wiry twine as if it were fur. As if he were scratching behind the ear of a Yorkie in desperate need of grooming. The straw popped back up when he was done, just like a dog’s would.
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Canton shrugged, tossed it up in the air. Caught it. Tossed it again. Caught it. Again, and loose straw separated from the bunch. Again. And more loose straw, falling down on them. And more. Ms. Post laughed. “Look at that. A school bus falling from the sky.”
Canton smiled, knowing a school bus is many things.
So is a walk home.
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Get the entire Look Both Ways LitChart as a printable PDF.
Canton Post Quotes in Look Both Ways
The Look Both Ways quotes below are all either spoken by Canton Post or refer to Canton Post. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
10. The Broom Dog
Quotes
“It’s…a…broom.”
“But I cleaned it. Promise. And yeah, it’s a broom, until you do this.” He petted the wiry twine as if it were fur. As if he were scratching behind the ear of a Yorkie in desperate need of grooming. The straw popped back up when he was done, just like a dog’s would.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Canton shrugged, tossed it up in the air. Caught it. Tossed it again. Caught it. Again, and loose straw separated from the bunch. Again. And more loose straw, falling down on them. And more. Ms. Post laughed. “Look at that. A school bus falling from the sky.”
Canton smiled, knowing a school bus is many things.
So is a walk home.
Related Characters:
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Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
