RJ--in rivers--depend on

Sophie cornered Amy outside of her physics class that last Friday. "I need to take you somewhere," she said when Amy asked what was going on. "No, there's no news. Everything is the same. Nobody knows anything. But I know. And I need you to know it too. I need your help."

Amy nodded and swung her backpack into the backseat of Sophie's Honda, where it nestled among plastic sacks of groceries and some bonsai books. Sophie said nothing as she drove out to the Columbine Cemetary and looked for a place to park. They finally parked in the alley on Ninth. She was silent too, as she grabbed a new wreath of autumn leaves from the trunk and as they walked out to the new grave.

It was only when she lay the wreath carefully on the grave that Sophie spoke.

"If we can't get Anna back, you are our only hope. I need you to learn the traditions, the language. I won't last forever, and someone must take care of all our spirits. Your mother, well, she's too much of a realist, and your father doesn't know our traditions, our ancestry. Someone has to constantly bridge the past and the present. Or there will be no future. And the only one left to do it is you."

"Things change." Amy put her hand on Sophie's shoulder as Sophie knelt by the grave. "how important is the old in the now?"

Sophie stood up quickly, and held Amy tight by her shoulders. "The now is trying to wipe out the past! It's trying to steal all our memories, all our souls! It starts with the credit card companies. And their databases. And the internet. And then. . . And then. . ." Sophie stretched her arms out wide as if to take in the dark line of foothills and darker mountains that edged the horizon. She could no longer speak. Amy took off her jacket and wrapped Sophie in it. Then she guided Sophie back to the car and drove home.

They said nothing.

a river's secrets / depend on / how much / we need to / configure / its destinations / with our realities

if there are / other waters / we can not / know them / all we see / in rivers / is their presence