Did you read "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon"?

I did. Never thought I would read a story that happened in real life that made me think of it immediately, though. Five minutes ago, I did. I went to check a friends website, and I read about 5-year-old Hannah Klamecki, who pulled herself out of the Kankakee River after being swept away from the beach of a small island where she and her grandfather had stopped to swim while boating. She had last been seen on Wednesday, and his body was recovered on Friday. It was assumed that she had drowned, and that the currents had swept her body downstream. After all, these things never end well.

Make that almost never.

Two-and-a-half days later, she walked out of the woods with a handful of raspberries.

Rumors of her death proved to have been greatly exaggerated.

The Associated Press reports:

"People were like, 'Who's that little girl? That can't be her, can it?"' Kankakee Sheriff's Chief Deputy Ken McCabe said. "I went up to her (and) asked, 'How you doing? What's your name?"' ...

Hannah was taken to a hospital as a precaution. She slept with her parents and a teddy bear at her side before being released. Cradling the bear, she spoke freely of her ordeal Friday evening.

"I was scared last night when everybody was gone," she said. "I went searching all over the world to look for the cottage (where her grandparents live)."

Hannah had scratches on her face and body and thick dirt under her nails. She had poison ivy rashes on her legs and couldn't walk because splinters and thorns cut her feet. ...

Authorities believe the river current swept the girl away from a small island where she and her grandfather had stopped to swim and to the shore of the mainland where she eventually was found.

She told searchers she was wearing floats on her arms and pulled herself from the water with a branch.

"That's a tough little girl, I tell you," McCabe said.

Wow...Just...Wow. (h/t Chatter by Ron Davis)