to campaign next year.

It wouldn't be of any use.

13

John Dennis showed human surprise as Frank Corson lunged at him. He had
either been lax in using the controlling power he'd been given, or else
Frank Corson had an exceptional resistance.

Dennis released Rhoda, swayed drunkenly under Frank Corson's clumsy
football-type tackle, and swung his arm like a pivoting beam. The blow
was a lucky one. His fist smashed low on Corson's jaw, numbing the
nerves of his neck on the left side.

Corson went down and, as he lay helpless, Dennis kicked him twice--once
in the side and once, viciously effectively, in the head. Corson rolled
over and lay still.

Dennis looked down at him in a drunken daze. "They will make an army and
bring it here."

Rhoda, standing in the center of an emotional maelstrom, watched the
struggle from the prison of her own horror. At that moment she was
physically, mentally and spiritually ill; a human being caught in the
midst of forces beyond her knowledge and control.

Dennis laid a heavy hand on her shoulder. "I want to make love."

"No--no. Please--"

The drunkenness ebbed slightly and his eyes emptied. They looked into
Rhoda's. She shivered. He took the neck of her brunch coat in his fist
and jerked downward. She had just come from the shower when she'd first
opened the door for Frank Corson, and the vicious denuding gesture left
her completely naked.

Dennis went clumsily to his knees, his arms around her, and he pulled
her to the floor. She sobbed, but the tears were gone now and they were
dry, wracking sobs.

"Undress me."

She fumbled with his jacket and pulled it off while he knelt there in
anticipation of he knew not what; wondering, wanting, knowing only an
urge he could not understand but which had become a compulsion.

She took off his necktie and unbuttoned his shirt. Frank Corson stirred
but did not regain consciousness. "Please," Rhoda said, "let me help
him."

In answer, Dennis put his arms around her and drew her to him. "We will
make love."

"Yes--yes, we will make love--"

The ring of the doorbell was like thunder in the room. Dennis tensed,
his eyes widened, and he got to his feet and stood swaying. Looking up
at him, Rhoda saw a trapped animal, but the excitement was still there
and she wanted to take him in her arms and hold him and protect him from
the world.

But he had forgotten her. A cunning sneer took the place of the
slavering animal look an