Chapter 17

Jess asks Alfred what happens and Alfred answers, that Pop gets another heartattack and they drive directly to the hospital and can't wait for Jess. They ask him to wait for her to follow them. Alfred wants to talk about the picture with Jess. He calls it a 'self-portrait' and Jess wondered why and then, she saw the river boy in the picture. Direclty, with no thinking, she runs back and jump into the river to catch the river boy, before he reaches the sea...

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That's msyterious. How comes the river boy in the picture? She stand next to him, while she finishes his picture, even, she helps him. Did Pop painted at night?
I think now it's mostly clear. The river boy has to be a kind of a "ghost" of Grandpa, even if he's not dead yet. And I think that is, what she realized at the end of this chapter. If the river boy reaches the sea, Pop will be dead. With the disappearing of the river boy, the life in Pop disappears.
And that's why she tries to catch him.