Death Whispers (Death Series, Book 1) (57 page)

Huh, I guess he was
practicing after all.

****

Bry had been late
because he had to work during the summer. Us gonna be freshman had it
good as nobody gets to work before sixteen anymore. (Gramps had a LOT
to say over that.) Bry worked, as he called it, as a “landscape
gopher.” He ran around doing all kinds of gardening crap for rich
people.

We all cleaned up our
plates and put them in Gramps' sink.

“Where's the gray
water thingy?” Sophie asked.

Gramps' standard
response to everything, “Grandfathered.”

“Ah, okay. So, where
do I?” She looked around in confusion.

I took the plate from
her and stopped up the drain and began running the hot water, which
churned out about sixty gallons per second, steaming as it landed
against the white porcelain. I then added soap and bubbles formed.

The Js followed suit
since they knew their way around the house better. They scraped their
plates right into the trashcan as Tiff said, “Wow, no separator.
How does he get away with that?”

“Grandfathered,”
the Js said in unison.

Gramps barked out
a laugh and nodded at them,
good thinking.

Bry took a real look
around the house, noticing all the non-sanctioned stuff.

“Well,” Gramps
responded, “I take all my trash to the Kent Separator and give them
my, I-don't-give-a-tree-hugging-damn-card, and they have to suck it
up and take my trash,” he said with a grin.

The girls gasped, the
Js grinned and a big smile started to form on Bry's face.

Brother.

“So, let me get this
straight,” Bry said, looking around. “You don't believe in saving
the environment?”

Gramps planted his
hands on his hips and I was eerily reminded of Mom, who had a similar
stance right before she was gonna Make Her Point. “It's the
principle Bryan, that these tree-hugging liberals and bleeding heart
types aren't going to tell my old ass what to do. It rubs me the
wrong way.”

No, really?

Gramps had a way with
his delivery, he and Jonesy got along marvelously.

Huh.

Bry was dying to swim
after a hot day in the sun battling the plants so we took off to
unearth Gramps' canoes. He had two biggies, one orange and the other
blue. We piled into them, two guys in each one and had canoe fights
for two hours. Jonesy would hit the flat end of the oar, skimming the
water's surface and the arc of water would catch Bry in the face.
Jonesy, a natural athlete, was so consistent with this maneuver that
Bry leaped out of the canoe. Tipping me out in the process, as he
swam to Jonesy, who in a state of panic jumped out of the canoe and
headed for shore.

Bry tipped the Js'
canoe, effectively drowning John (who was guilty by association) and
swam with a vengeance for Jonesy. His muscles bunched and worked and
Jonesy's terror at getting nailed made him speedy. In the end, Bry
caught him and gave him a few hundred dunkings.

Gramps strolled up and
said diplomatically to Jonesy, “Better say 'uncle' or Bryan here is
going to feed you to the fish.”

“Uncle!” Jonesy
screamed.

The girls giggled
at Jonesy's girl-like squeal. Which,
of course,
made us all turn to them and triangulating their position, we all
swam after them like bees to honey. They thought they were safe in
the water! They squealed as we approached, laughing so hard they
weren't making good headway. As we got to them, I could hear Gramps'
laughter in the background, just another summer day at the lake with
a bunch of energetic teenagers.

He didn't know the half of it.

#

Death
Speaks
is available now!

A Love Letter to My Readers:

As of March 31, 2011, it's been a year now since
my first book,
Death Whispers
, was published. I'd like to take
this opportunity to thank each and every one of you that has
supported my writing.
Without my readers, I would not have an
audience for my work.
Many of your emails, support via
recommendation, encouragement and critical feedback/reviews have
allowed my improvement as a writer and as a human being. Words are an
inadequate thanks for the depth of my gratitude to you. Please know
how much your support has meant, and will continue to mean in the
future to come.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart~

*

If you enjoyed this book, please support the
author by posting your review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and
iBookstore.

Please
also consider recommending or reviewing the book on your blog,
Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

Connect with Me Online:

Twitter
:
http://twitter.com/#!/troseblodgett

Facebook
:
facebook.com/tamararose.blodgett

Smashwords:
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/tamararoseblodgett

goodreads
:http://www.goodreads.com/tamara_rose_blodgett

Shelfari
:http://www.shelfari.com/tamararose

Blog:
http://tamararoseblodgett.blogspot.com/

Acknowledgments:

A few people have made this possible:

You,
my
reader
,
thank you!

My
sons, without whom, I could never have made the dialogue realistic;
and
especially
Joshua
,
whose faith was unshakable.

To my husband,
Danny
, who
supports every scheme I come up with and ones I haven't yet. And puts
up with a daydreaming wife without complaint (usually).

To Jen and Sirena, who put up with my
intensity.

For the agent “C,” that wanted to see this after the revisions,
thank you. You gave me hope.

My editor,
Stephanie T. Lott
, for coming in here and making
WHISPERS a cleaner copy.

And finally, my mother,
Camilla
, who nurtured the written and
spoken word in a way that changed my life in this direction.

I miss you, Mom.

Books available now:

Death Inception
(A
Death Prequel)

Death
Whispers
(Death Series, #1)

Death
Speaks
(#2)

Death
Screams
(
#3)

Death Weeps
(#4)

The
Pearl Savage
(Savage Series, #1)

The
Savage Blood,
( #2)

The
Savage Vengeance
(#3)

Blood
Singers
,
(Blood Series, #1)

Books publishing in 2012:

Blood
Song
,
(Blood Series, #2) September 28

The Savage Protector
(Savage Series, #4)

Unrequited
Death
,
(Death Series, #5) December 31

Future
Titles
:

2013

Blood
Chosen
,
( #3)

The
Reflective
,
(Reflection Series, #1)