In the brief Prologue (set apart by italics), we meet Ruth Kowalsky. Like many 12-year-olds, she is curious, open to adventure, and unburdened by considerations of risk. It is spring in the Appalachian foothills on the South Carolina/Georgia border country in Oconee County. Her family, her parents and her brother, are taking a long overdue vacation from Minnesota by visiting Appalachian tourist spots.

One evening at sunset, Ruth wanders off from her family’s picnic and ventures to the banks of the Tamassee River. She is intrigued by the idea that the boundary between the two states runs through the middle of the river—she just wants to stand in two states at the same time. Barefoot, she steps into the cold river and moves into its rapid current. She is a Red Cross certified swimmer, but she stumbles and slips under the water and feels the river pulling her. She tumbles helplessly in the black depths of the river, suddenly aware of the danger she is in. Her head glances off a rock; breathing becomes difficult; her lungs feel like they will explode. Then “her arms and legs she did not even know were flailing cease and she becomes part of the river” (5).