So far i have really enjoyed reading this book. I guess the fact that it takes place in South Carolina and and i have been in or heard of just about every place it talks about.
The story starts out with a young girl and her family having a pick nick on the bank of the Tamassee River. Since the river is on the the Georgia, South Carolina line the girl wants to wade out to the middle so that she can tell her friends back home that she has been in two states at one time. The girl, who i think they say was around 9 years old or so, wades out to the middle of the river and ends up getting swept downstream. The Tamassee River is very powerful especially during this time of year they say. The young girl ends up getting caught in a hydraulic and under a rock. The girls family tries to do all they can to save her, the mother dives in a few time but can't get her out and the father, who can't swim, just watches helplessly from the shore. But, the river is to powerful and they can't get the girl out.
After about 3 or 4 weeks the girls body has still not been recovered from the river. The girls father begins to raise hell about the situation, which i think is very understandable. The story eventually begins to attract the attention of some big time news media and that's when our main character Maggie Glenn comes into play. Maggie works for a newspaper company down in Columbia, but she is a native of the Tamassee River area and actually attended Clemson University. Maggie gets sent to cover the story, since she is a native of the area, with a rather famous writer Allen Hemphill. It turns out Maggie secretly like Allen but notices that he wears a wedding band on his finger even though everyone knows that he is single.
Maggie and Allen head out the next morning to cover the story. The car ride there seemed like Maggie was pretty nervous riding with Allen. She kept wanting to know more about Allen and why he wore a wedding ring. Once they got there Maggie seemed to know everyone and they all seemed very happy to see her. This is the exact same thing that happens when i go back home from school, everybody makes it seem like you've been gone forever, but i guess that's just the way things are in small town, I really wouldn't have it any other way. Anyways Maggie meets up with a few old friends and introduces Allen around to everyone. Allen ends up staying at a hotel the first night while Maggie goes to her house to stay with her father. Maggie's mother died when she was a junior in college and now her father lives at home alone but is dieing of cancer. Maggie and her father never really had a good relationship with each other so she is rather nervous about going back home to spend the night.
There is a meeting the next day about getting the young girl out of the river. The girls father has hired a portable dam company to build a temporary dam in the river to divert the water enough that they might be able to pull the girls body out of the river. But many of the locals especially Luke says that this is against the law because it would cause harm to the river. At the meeting many different people argue back and forth about what should be done. Personally i think that the portable dam would be a great idea as long as it could handle the power of the river. they say that the dam could be built, used, and taken out all in the same day without causing any harm at all to the river. I have to agree with the father i would be trying to do any and everything to get my daughter out. But the river rats don't agree with this. They say that this will cause harm to the river and led to other things such as roads being built and development taking place close to the river.
While at the meeting Allen records the whole things for his story. They next day down at the river they try to measure different depths and things in order to get some information to build the dam. Maggie and Allen get some good information from some of the major players involved and later on that night they meet up with Luke for supper at Moma Tilsons. Here Luke shows them all the paper work and some pictures of the laws protecting the river and says that if it were his daughter trapped in the river that he could image no better place for her to be. From this quote i can see where Luke is coming from but i still just doesn't seem right to let her stay in the river. Maggie also does some research on Allen and finds out that his wife and daughter were killed in a car crash and wonders how it feels to be covering a story like this. That night or either the next night Maggie and Allen head down to Billy's store for some guitar pickin and the two seem to hit it of pretty good. On the way home Allen skips past the hotel and drives down to the bridge. The two talk for a while and then end up kissing. The next morning they pack up and head back home.
Once back at the office Maggie gets praised for the picture she has taken. Allen is pretty close but has not yet finished his writting on the story. The two end up eating supper at Maggie's house that night for their "first date". Here Allen kind of opens up to Maggie about his feelings for his wife and daughter. He seems to really miss his daughter the most and feels like helping to get this little girl out of the river would make him feel like a better parent than he was to his daughter. When the night is over the two kiss goodnight and he heads back home. And thats as far along in the story as i have gotten.
Overall i like this story a lot. So far it is a pretty easy read and sort of hard to put down once i get going good. I strongly lean toward the side of doing everything i can to get the little girl out of the river. It can be done without the destroying the river like Luke and many of the other think it would.
bustling- a crowded space full of people walking around talking, lots of noise everyone very busy
rheumy- mucus disgarded from the eyes, nose, or mouth
juxtaposed- to place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast
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