I wonder if the little brother was more a tag-a-long to big brother. Maybe not as committed to the cause. It was big brother that called the uncle (the suicide profile). And that fits the assimilation storyline from verc's earlier article. Plus a kid who spent most his life with big brother being his closest relative. I could see why he would surrender.
Freak's sleeping life seems to be even more messed up than mine is.
I am very happy now for the ~90 minutes of sleep I had between 5:30 and 7. I would be crashing hard now if I hadn't. Ham sandwich over coffee was a winning choice.
Two good friends of mine are brothers who moved here from Taiwan as teenagers. The older one was about 14 when he moved here; I'd say it's fair to describe him as disaffected and isolated, because he's not really Taiwanese anymore but he's not really American either. The younger was about 8 when he moved here, and he's as American as anybody. These two were probably the same way. Maybe big brother was the dominant one, and with him gone the younger one will talk, like the kid in the DC sniper case.