Chapter 16

Content:

Early in the next morning, Jess stands up, leaves a letter for Mum, Dad and Grandpa (That she's out for a walk) and goes up the hill to find the source of the river and to meet the River Boy in the dawn. So she has really to hurry to find it because the night won't take a long time to go away. After a while Jess arrives at the waterfall and climbs it up to the source. There she meets the River Boy. He thanks her for coming and they gaze together down the hill. Jess sees the rivers way from its source up to the sea and the River Boy describes it very detailed with a human life.
However he tells his challenge quickly: He wants to swim straight on the whole river to the sea and wants Jess to swim with him because he feels a little bit frightened.
Nevertheless, Jess doesn't agree. She isn't able to leave Grandpa and her family to go with him. So he goes on alone, jumps down the waterfall and disappears from Jess' view without saying any word about his person.
Jess doesn't have the heart to jump. Therefore she climbs down the rock next to the waterfall and goes back to the cottage.
When she arrives, the car isn't anymore on its place and to her surprise only Alfred stands in front of the cottage. What has happened?


My thoughts while reading:

I felt really disappointed when the River Boy disappeared without saying anything about his personage. I thought that he would be more than only this mysterious boy because the novel is labelled by his name. There was not really coherence between him and the painting until now and I don't think that he'll come back again.
A completely different question I asked myself after this chapter is the following: What happens to Grandpa? Did he get a new heart attack or why isn't the car there, in front of the cottage?