It was suggested that I share a "snippet" of my book Whispering Voices. I welcome any and all critques, advice and comments.

This chapter is about my brother Jeff. At this time we are not talking. He is upset over my funeral plans for Mike.

    Jeffrey  born March 20, 1961. Jeff was my best friend. I looked up to him (not because he is taller than me).
    Growing up we did a lot of things together..played baseball, rode bicycles and talked to each other. He was very smart in school and received a lot of positive attention because of his grades. I always wanted to have same that attention so I had to be as good as him, if not better. I'm not sure if he competed with me or not but I always tried to best him. I didn't always achieve that goal because I set the bar high.
    Jeff would be quiet at times, lost in unkown thought, as is if he was contemplating the mysteries of the universe. He loves nature. He could find 4-leaf clovers in a clump of grass without any trouble and had a whole photo album of them. That was one competition that he won.
    One day in Freeville, dad got word that Jeff burned a neighbor with a cigarette. Dad was furious, he beat Jeff with a leather belt, IN THE FRONT YARD!! Jeff was screaming and crying in pain telling dad he didn't do it. Dad didn't care he wanted to punish Jeff and did so with extreme violence. (Years later Jeff told me that he didn't burn anyone). After that attack, we hid the leather belt which dad never found.
    Another time I came home to find Jeff at the kitchen sink doing dishes. He asked me if I wanted to learn how to do them, to which I eagerly said yes (after all it was Jeff and I had to best him). He showed me how, from then on I was required to take my turn doing them.
   When we moved to Candor Jeff and I grew closer. We would talk to each other every night til one of us fell asleep. He was my confidant and my rock.In the summer we'd play "guns" (we'd make guns out of tree branches and have mock wars in the woods), go fishing, ride bikes. One of the most coolest things we did was ride "elevator trees." Elevator trees are small sapling trees, we'd climb up, and when high enough we'd swing our legs out, which would bend the tree over and gently lower us to the ground. Jeff climbed this big tree that wouldn't bend, he climbed quite high to make the it bend. When Jeff and the tree got half way down the tree snapped and sent Jeff plummeting to the ground where he landed on his back. Thankfully he didn't get hurt but it sure was funny.|
    One winter day, Jeff, and friend of ours and I were smoking cigarettes by our pond when we decided to run across the ice. My friend and I ran across safely but the ice was groaning. When it was Jeff's turn we told him that it wasn't safe for him. He ran across anyway. He got about 3' from shore and fell straight through the ice. Thankfully the pond wasn't deep so he was able to climb out. Jeff ran down the hill, water sloshing out of his boots, yelling "I still got my cigarette!" We laughed so hard .