Anglers of the AuSable

[gloria]

Hello!

For my AP Composition and Literature class we have to submit a piece of poetry, non-fiction, or fiction to this contest comprised of the fishers association of our local river. I chose fiction, and wrote about people graduating since I am going through that now.

I would just like some feedback

A little overview of the river is the AuSable river is a big thing here. It generates our tourism an we host a huge canoe marathon in July. Fly fishing is also big, and there was this huge controversy a while back because a company wanted to drill near the AuSable which created a huge uproar.

If you thought 'tl;dr' -- we really like this river. a lot.
I hope you can see some of the love of the river in this piece.

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The sun shines through the trees and pushes its way through the fog. The water sparkles as the current flows - constantly refreshing the river and woods. An enigma of nature that has more questions than answers. How many years did it take until the trickle of water became the mighty AuSable river? Where did the water start, and where did it end? Most of those could be answered factually; but an old and wizened fisherman may say the river is young and gives vitality, and the start of the river is wherever a young kid catches his first fish ( a tiny, squirming bluegill) and ends where he sits and watches his grand kids play in the glitter he's seen his whole life. The AuSable trains athletes and strengthens families, and the river has someplace in everyone's life.

To the young people, the river may be home. They say home is where the heart is. Those who've lived in the area their whole lives know every pebble that inches its way down like a tortoise, and they know every pastel leaf that falls in the river and leaves them. Those that move ain a new appreciation for nature and, specifically, the AuSable. Some new students have never seen clean water, or felt the nibble of minnows that dart away when they try to grab at them. That was life for Scott Green hen he entered the town at the start of Middle School, and now he would leave the town a scholar and feel the heartbreak of parting with the river. The river is where all his memories were: his first swim in it; taking a girl down to the bank, and shyly kissing her; bonding with his best friends -- Mel and Nick. To leave all of that weighed many hearts of the senior class. Eighteen years in a place among the water, and then it was gone.

None of the sad thoughts stopped the friends from having one last hoorah together down in their favorite spot. A spot in town, at the bottom of the hill, under dark shade and easy to wade until deeper. When the sun thawed the icy chill away, wading in the water became a weekly ordeal. Every Friday old t-shirts were flung at the bank (and sometimes missed) and bathing suits were soaked. Water droplets flew through the air and landed on the teenagers whose heads bobbed over the water. The girl, Mel, swam under the water and glided through the flowing water.

Graduation had passed a month ago. Scott watched his friends in the water, and thought about the diploma now in his living room. He also thought of fall. They would be gone: one to Michigan State, another to Alma, and himself to Michigan Tech. Scattered all over the state; lives moving forward like the water in the river they bathed in. Scott could only think of the past four years and being in classes with complaints abundant. It seemed that was all he could remember. That and the water. The next prominent memory was fishing with Nick or his father on weekends, or Mel taking him to the river to show him a new spot that he was at now. Scott could remember dreaming of having a house on the river. The AuSable was his second home.

"Seems like college is coming up fast," Mel piped up, floating on her back.

"Yeah -- one more month," Nick replied.

Scott sat on the bank thinking -- life moves like a river's water. It's never the same water.

Nick moved rocks with his feet and kicked up mud before he spoke again, "But we will never forget each other. There is class reunions and the phone."

Scott smiled wearily, "Yeah."

Mel joined him, and he could see the weight of graduation on her shoulders. The water dripped off of them and into the ground.

"Guys, we can always meet back up in the summer. Go back to the river...or something. We'll stay friends."

To Scott, it felt like it was ending.

Then he watched the river even more.

The river bank was always there.

The water moved, though.

He returned into the water, breaking the surface and scattering the frightened minnows. He felt more at peace with his moving life. They could be friends still, and he was leaving but he could always return to the town that was his home.

A leaf fell into the AuSable and was carried off. The water was constantly filtered, but the land never moved. Nick claimed that he could find the riverbank blind, and Scott found himself there when he was walking aimlessly.

Because the bank never moved.

They could return at any point of their lives and remember the refreshing days of youth, even if the years never stopped.