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"He was hating you for sending him, hating you for saying yes, he could go!"
"Liar!" I said. "Get out of Merrick. "
"Don't you shout at me, Mister," she blazed back. She glanced down at the broken glass and tapped her ashes into it. "Now let's just see about fixing her good. "
She took a step forward, right into the mess of broken glass and overturned bottles that lay between us.
I advanced on the figure.
"Stay back. "
I seized her by the shoulders and forced her backwards. B
ut it took all of my strength. Her skin was moist with sweat, and she squirmed out of my grasp.
"You don't think I can walk on glass in bare feet? " she said right in my face as she struggled to resist me. "You stupid old man," she went on, "now why would I want to cut Merrick's foot?"
I took hold of her, crushing the glass under my shoes.
"You're dead, aren't you, Honey in the Sunshine? You're dead, and you know it, and this is all the life you can get!"
For one moment the beautiful face went blank. The girl appeared to be Merrick. Then the eyebrows were raised again. The lids assumed their languid expression, making the eyes glitter.
"I'm here and I'm staying here. "
"You're in the grave, Honey in the Sunshine," I answered. "That is, the body you want is in the grave, and all you've got is a vagrant spirit, now isn't that so!"
A look of fear flittered across her expression, and then the face hardened once more, as she freed herself from my hands.
"You know nothing about me, Mister," she said. She was baffled, as spirits often are. She couldn't keep the cocky expression on Merrick's face. Indeed, the whole body shuddered suddenly. The true Merrick was struggling.
"Come back, Merrick, throw her off, Merrick," I said. I stepped forward once again.
She moved back and towards the foot of the high bed. She turned the cigarette in her hand. She meant to jab me with it.
"You bet your life I do," she said, reading my thoughts. "I wish I had something I could really hurt you with. But I guess I'll have to settle for hurting her!"
She glanced about the room.
It was all I needed. I advanced on her and caught her by the shoulders, desperate to keep hold of her in spite of the sweat that covered her and her writhing to escape.
She shrieked. "You stop that, lemme go!" And she managed to grind the cigarette into the side of my face.
I reached for her hand, grabbed it and twisted it until she dropped the cigarette. She slapped me hard, so that for one moment I felt faint. Nevertheless, I held on to her slippery shoulders.
"That's it," she cried. "Hurt her, break her bones, why don't you just do that? Think it will make Joshua come back? Think he'll be any older for you, David, think it will make everything right?"
"Get out of Merrick!" I shouted. I could still hear the broken glass under my shoes. She was perilously close to it. I shook her hard, her head flopping from side to side.
She convulsed, wrenching free, and again there came a slap of awesome strength that all but knocked me off balance. For one split second I couldn't see.
I lunged at her and lifted her under the arms and threw her back on the bed. I knelt on the bed over her, gripping her still. She was struggling to reach my face.
"Let her go, David," Aaron cried out behind me. And I heard the voice of Mary, suddenly, that other loyal member, begging me not to twist her wrist so hard.
Her fingers struggled to reach my eyes.
"You're dead, you know you are, you've got no right here," I roared at her. "Say it, you're dead, you're dead, and you've got to let Merrick go. "
