It might not matter, depending on the river and the part of the river.
From the novel, Collateral Crimes:
Jesse said, “Are you okay?”
“Yes. It’s just that I’ve never told anyone about my dad.”
“We can talk about something else.”
“No, I want to tell you. I feel I can tell you anything.”
Jesse’s eyes welled up.
Jonathan said, “It was in the summer. I was twelve. We were camped out next to the Kern, doing some trout fishing. It was really hot out—like here—so we decided to go swimming.” He looked around and couldn’t find a towel so he dabbed his eyes with her bra. “The Kern isn’t like this little creek. It’s a lot bigger, and strong. But where we were camped it was slow because the river was shallow and really wide. At first it was awesome. The water was so cool and we were floating along having a great time. But the river got narrower and started running faster. We could hear the rapids up ahead and my dad said to get out, but we couldn’t. The bank was muddy and we couldn’t get a foothold. We tried to grab some reeds growing up near the bank, but when we grabbed them they just pulled out of the mud. It got even faster but we were helpless against it. We could see the rapids, and just before we got to them we saw a tree growing out of the river near the shore. We managed to grab hold of it, but the force of the water was pulling on us, pulling us down. My head was underwater and I was holding on with my fingertips dug into the bark. I don’t know how but I managed to pull myself back and wedge myself between the flow of the river and the tree, so that the pressure was pinning me against it. Once I did that, I was able to climb up the trunk out of the water. I sat down on a branch and when I looked back at the river, I saw my dad being pulled under. He was looking up at me from underwater as he was swept away. I saw him bounce off a boulder and there was blood in the water. Then he was gone.”
Jesse sat next to Jonathan and held him in her arms.
