“Dunno,” he said. “I wanted the old skin. Wish I’d never seed it.”
“You do talk funny,” she said. “I can’t hear what you say.”
And so far was William’s spirit broken that he only sighed.
NEVER IN THE WHOLE COURSE OF HIS LIFE HAD WILLIAM
SEEN A ROOM EMPTY SO QUICKLY.
“I saw you going,” she went on, “and I went after you, but you ran so fast that I lost you. Then I went round a bit by myself. I say, they won’t be able to get on with the old thing without us. I heard them shouting for us. Isn’t it fun? An’ I heard some people screaming in the road. What was that?”
William sighed again. Then he shouted: “Try’n pull my head loose. Hard.”
She complied. She pulled till William yelled again.
“You’ve nearly took my ears off,” he said angrily in his muffled, sepulchral voice.
But the head was wedged on as tightly as ever.