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I wrote the following in one go yesterday while in an ABS mindset. 

The River Keeper

The boy looks out of the door of his house to the river where his mother, as usual, is standing thigh-deep.  She is looking out over the edge of the waterfall, transfixed. The mist from the crashing pool at the bottom swirls around her as if under her spell.  This is their life, he understands, looking after the river to ensure that it brings life to the valley below where many people live.  He does not understand yet how what his mother does in the river helps but this does not bother him.  He is ten and more interested in exploring the river bank and surrounding bush, hunting down insects which he tries to feed to the fish and eels that gather in the shade of the shallows on hot days. 

Today will be a hot day.  He is finishing breakfast as he watches is mother, planning his route to find the grubs that the eels like.  There are traps to check and berries to gather, but these are not far away today and he will have plenty of time to spend in the shallows.

This is her favourite time to be in the river, out in the early morning sun.  He does not like the cold, or the unsteady footing of the river so close to the edge, so rarely joins her.  She never asks him to and he is glad of that. 

She turns to him, smiles warmly, then looks back over the edge.  She seems very focused on something down at the bottom.  He wonders idly if there is a tiger down there.  The villagers at the bottom have been reporting tiger sightings – a good omen. 

Then, in one fluid motion, she raises her arms above her head, steps forwards and dives off the waterfall.  He is stunned.  It is a long drop and there are large, pointed rocks around the base.  He does not know how deep the plunge pool, but surely not deep enough.  Table and bowl flying, he rushes out of the house and down the winding path that leads to the bottom of the waterfall.  He shouts as he runs.

“Mother… Mother what are you doing?  Are you crazy?! Are you hurt?”

He reaches the bottom, the rocks muddy and slippery thanks to the mist, and slips and slides his way over the edge of the plunge pool.  The sound is deafening.  There is no point in shouting but he does so anyway.  He hunts around but there is no sign of her.  Maybe she has gone down river.  He wades to the edge, climbs onto the back, and runs down the path, checking the river as he goes, still shouting.

Nothing. 

The valley villagers join in the search.  They search all day and into the night, in the river and through the forest.  Not a single sign. 

The elders give the desperate, exhausted, sobbing boy a calming brew, bitter but sweetened with honey.  He quickly calms down and they ask him to describe what happened.  He does so.  They ask questions, he answers.  Satisfied they have heard all there is to hear, they take him to bed. 

He awakes feeling groggy.  It is late morning and the elders are sat under the meeting tree.  They give him a drink – cool, sweet and herbal – and this clears his head.  They tell him that his mother will not be coming back and that he is now the river keeper.  One of the villagers will stay with him for a few days to make sure he can look after himself.  He assures them that he can and that he has done so for many years, but he welcomes the company.

-----

It is quiet by himself in the house. Each morning he sits and stares out of the door at the spot in the river where she no longer stands. It is painful but he welcomes the pain, enjoys it even.  As the pain turns to anger, he goes to the river bank and throws rocks at the point from which she jumped.  This continues until he is worn out and the tears come.  Then he gets on with his jobs, collecting food and firewood from the forest.  This routine is repeated day after day, month after month.

He does not see many people, just the occasional hunter passing by.  He avoids the villagers as he can not stand their pity and is angry at them for not finding her.  The fish and the eels do not get fed anymore.

-----

He remembers the words of the elders and wonders what being river keeper actually involves.  The river seems to look after itself.  His mother wading in the river did not seem to do much and he can not see the point of doing the same.  It is summer again, the river lazy and low.  He moves the occasional drifting branch out of the way but does little else.  The slow moving section of the river, where the fish and eels rest in the shade, has grown.  As it now extends into the sun the shallow water is warm and he spends many hours playing there.  He builds dams, races sticks and throws and skims stones to the spot, a short way down river, where she jumped. 

Before long, the village children discover him and the pool and he does not mind that they join him.  More fun is had, more stones are thrown and large rocks are moved around to extend the shallow area.  Soon they have to collect more stones from upstream.  He becomes friends with the children who come every day through the summer, their numbers reducing only as the water temperatures start to cool in mid Autumn.  This suits him as he needs to spend time harvesting in preparation for the winter.  Some of his new friends help him and he gives them fish, eels, mushrooms and nuts in return.  The harvest is not going so well in the village and the extra food is welcomed. 

-----

The fun in the shallows repeats the following summer, twenty or so children on hot days, with ages ranging from three to thirteen.  At fourteen the children enter adulthood and are needed to work in the village and forest.  Some marry at fourteen and all are married by sixteen.  The boy wonders who he will marry when he comes of age and spends time with those village girls that have not already paired off.  He does not want to marry one like his mother.

-----

It is quiet through the winter except for the river bursting its banks and flooding a large area a short way upstream.  The villagers come to help cut a ditch around his house and to build a protective wall.  He gives them what he can spare of his winter provisions and they are grateful as some families are going hungry.

On his trips to check the traps he notices new streams cutting their way through the forest and he puts in stepping stones where they cross the paths.

-----

Fewer children come the next summer.  They are needed to work in the valley to create more space for crops and to cut more channels for the water.  The villagers are determined to grow enough food to see them through the next winter.  Still, there is time for play and the warm water hole is very welcome after the hard work. 

The boy spends most of his time with one of the village girls. When she is not there he throws rocks.  If he hits the stone standing proud in the middle of the river she loves him.  If he does not, she does not.  He decides he has to hit it five times in a row to make sure and does this each night before heading back to the house.  Sometimes it is after dark.

It is an unusually wet summer, the river is full and the crops grow well. 

-----

The boy and girl marry on his birthday the following Spring.  They live together in his house and he works down in the village helping to plant crops, set traps and prepare furs.  Once her jobs in the village are done, his new wife is focused on improving the house and tending a small, fertile garden.

It is a hot, dry summer.  They work hard and have little time to spend in the river, except to bathe, but the children still come. 

-----

Hunger and disease strike the village that winter.  The boy – now a man – and his wife provide what they can but it is not enough.  The elderly give up their food for the young, leaving them very weak. Some die and the mourning rituals are observed.

In early spring the wife gives birth to a boy, a ray of happiness and hope at a sad time. 

After the naming ceremony the elders take the new father to the meeting tree.  The deaths, they tell him, are his fault.  He is the keeper of the river and the river has failed them.  The crops did not get enough water and the extra trapping of animals has reduced their numbers.  He must not fail them again.

How, he demands, can he be responsible for the weather? Surely it is the dry summer that caused the problem.  The river never failed them when his mother was keeper, they say.

He is angry.  She did nothing but stand in the river.  Many rocks are thrown at the place where she once stood. It is so unfair.

-----

The summer is hot and dry and the waterfall reduces to a fraction of its normal volume.  The villagers collect water from the plunge pool with buckets and take them to water the crops.  The elders and the villagers summon the keeper of the river and ask what he has done.  Nothing, he admits.  He can not see what he can do.  Not good enough, they say, try harder.  

On his return up the winding path to the top of the waterfall he watches the villagers and has an idea.  He calls on the children to help him.  They get buckets and carry water from the pool where the children play to the edge of the waterfall and tip it over.  Backwards and forwards they go tipping hundreds of buckets of water over the edge.  The following day some of the adults from the village join in.  This becomes a regular activity until the autumn rains come at last.

The villagers survive the winter but it is a struggle. 

-----

Spring comes and the river keeper is sitting at the table making buckets, the now toddling baby boy keeping him company.  A splashing sound catches his attention and he looks through the open door to the river.  His wife is standing in the centre, ankle deep in the spot where his mother had once stood, mist from the waterfall surrounding her.  He jumps up shouting at her to get out.  This makes the baby cry and she comes out to sooth him.  He angrily demands to know what she is doing.  She has had an idea, she says.  If they move the rocks from the centre of the river, it will flow more easily.  Still shocked at how much she looked like his mother, he dismisses this instantly and forbids her to go into that part of the river again.

Again the summer is hot and dry.  When the river runs low the villagers begin moving water with buckets, adding little-by-little to the waterfall.  The wife talks to some of the villagers and, as they walk up to tip the buckets over the edge, each picks a rock up out of the river and throws it to the side.  The river keeper notices but says nothing. He has been thinking and is now wondering if his wife might be right.

The waterfall grows in strength and the bucket work stops.  While his wife is down in the village, the river keeper walks to the spot where his mother jumped for the very first time.  The rocks are sharp and painful, it is very difficult to walk and he stubs his toes many times.  But he knows that she was right and he plucks out a rock and throws it to the side.  It feels good.  He throws another and another, working up a rhythm that seems to be in tune with the sound of the river.  It is painful, but he quickly learns to ignore it.  Time passes and he notices it is getting dark.  Surprised that it is so late he turns to see his wife standing on the bank watching him, smiling.

There is enough water in the village, though still much less than in previous years.  The elders congratulate the river keeper on his idea and he is honest enough to say that it was his wife’s idea.  It is often the case, they say.

-----

The years pass.  Each summer, as the flow of the river lessens and as the water gets warmer, the river keeper wades out to remove rocks.  It is work that he loves, though it is still painful on his feet.  The area of slow moving water where the children play gets smaller but they do not seem to mind.  The games have changed and they no longer throw rocks, except to skim them to the other side.  Instead they make structures out of the rocks that are now piled up on the river bank.  Some are also used to extend the river keepers house with new walls.

The water supply to the village is plentiful, the crops are successful and the winters are happy.

-----

The river keeper’s boy turns ten and, like his father, enjoys finding insects to feed to the fat fish and eels.  The river keeper is in the river, using his feet to find rocks but he finds none. The bed of the river is smooth and unobstructed.  He is in tune with the river, feeling the power, the free flow, the song.  The song.  He has not heard the song before.  Intrigued he wades, thigh-deep, to the edge of the waterfall and looks over.

He smiles broadly and looks over at the house.  His son is sitting at the table, watching him through the door.  The river keeper stretches his arms above his head, steps forward and dives.