A few comments… 1. The first 2 sentences of the 2nd paragraph are in past tense but everything else is in present tense. 2. You don’t need to add “To Be Continued…” on the end of your story. You or someone else may sequel it and the sequel link is sufficient. 3. I’ve never heard weeds crackle or break. 4. The overall tone is very matter of fact which would be alleviated by adding some texture to the piece. Of course, to do that, you’d need to carve out some space. There’s very little from the 1st paragraph that is important to the 2nd paragraph. If this was my piece, I would either break the story into two pieces or gut the 1st paragraph to create some room for expand the 2nd. 5. ‘Sympathetically’ is missing a ‘t’. 6. A man can’t crouch with his back against a tree. In a crouch, the upper body comes forward. In fact, that particular sentence can be reduced to “He crouches.” without affecting the paragraph at all.
What August has identified, in what might perhaps be considered an overly nit-picky way, is that this needs a good rewrite. I’d suggest a couple of carriage returns (see handy blog entry elsewhere on the site) and bit more time spend re-reading what you’ve written: for instance Make it easier on yourself.” another man said sympatheically. betrays all the hallmarks of having been written in a hurry and not checked before publishing. But I wouldn’t want to discourage; it does have potential. Take your time and keep writing!
August 2nd
JonB
someday_93