"What they said was a man drifted over the line..."
I'm reasonably sure this means her Mexican boyfriend crossed the border and was shot, under the assumption he was an illegal alien. This makes the song all the more poignant, as her innocent love for him (they hadn't even kissed) wasn't enough to protect him from her own townspeople. She later numbs herself with cigarettes and pills, and gave her dolls away as a symbol of growing up overnight into a harsh world where fairy tale love is trumped by bigoted reality. Her innocence and illusions are gone.
"What they said was a man drifted over the line..."
I'm reasonably sure this means her Mexican boyfriend crossed the border and was shot, under the assumption he was an illegal alien. This makes the song all the more poignant, as her innocent love for him (they hadn't even kissed) wasn't enough to protect him from her own townspeople. She later numbs herself with cigarettes and pills, and gave her dolls away as a symbol of growing up overnight into a harsh world where fairy tale love is trumped by bigoted reality. Her innocence and illusions are gone.