  The Magellanic Cloud system represents a unique laboratory for study of both
interacting dwarf galaxies and the ongoing process of the formation of the
Milky Way and its halo. We focus on one aspect of this complex, 3 body
interaction - the dynamical perturbation of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) by
the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), and specifically potential tidal effects on
the SMC's eastern side. Using Gaia astrometry and the precise radial velocities
and multi-element chemical abundances from APOGEE-2 DR17, we explore the
well-known distance bimodality on the eastern side of the SMC. Through
estimated stellar distances, proper motions, and radial velocities, we
characterize the kinematics of the two populations in the bimodality and
compare their properties with those of SMC populations elsewhere. Moreover,
while all regions explored by APOGEE seem to show a single chemical enrichment
history, the metallicity distribution function (MDF), of the "far" stars on the
eastern periphery of the SMC is found to resemble that for the more metal-poor
fields of the western periphery, whereas the MDF for the "near" stars on the
eastern periphery resembles that for stars in the SMC center. The closer
eastern periphery stars also show radial velocities (corrected for SMC rotation
and bulk motion) that are, on average, approaching us relative to all other SMC
populations sampled. We interpret these trends as evidence that the near stars
on the eastern side of the SMC represent material pulled out of the central SMC
as part of its tidal interaction with the LMC.
