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Eyeball Chambers
Ace Merrill is the ringleader of the older boys’ gang, which includes Billy Tessio, Charlie Hogan, Eyeball Chambers, and Fuzzy Bracowicz. He’s an especially violent hoodlum who beats up Gordie with impunity in full daylight and under the watchful eye of an adult neighbor who declines to turn him in to the police. After he grows up, he continues to live in Castle Rock, where he eventually settles into middle age as a fat laborer at the mill.
Ace Merrill Quotes in The Body
The The Body quotes below are all either spoken by Ace Merrill or refer to Ace Merrill . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 26 Quotes
He was wrong to mention Denny. I had wanted to reason with him, to point out what Ace knew perfectly well, that we had every right to take Billy and Charlie’s dibs since Vern had heard them giving said dibs away. I wanted to tell them how Vern and I had almost gotten run down by a freight train on the trestle which spans the Castle River. About Milo Pressman and his fearless—if stupid—sidekick, Chopper the Wonder-Dog. About the bloodsuckers, too. I guess all I really wanted to tell him was Come on, Ace, fair is fair. You know that. But he had to bring Denny into it, and what I heard coming from my mouth was my own death-warrant: “Suck my fat one, you cheap dimestore hood.”
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Chapter 32 Quotes
I didn’t care if Ace or Fuzzy and the rest of those assholes respected me or thought I was stupid or never thought about me at all. But there was Chris to think of. His brother Eyeball had broken his arm in two places and had left his face looking like a Canadian sunrise. They had to set the elbow-break with a steel pin. Mrs. McGinn from down the road saw Chris staggering along the soft shoulder, bleeding from both ears and reading a Richie Rich comic book. She took him to the CMG Emergency Room where Chris told the doctor he had fallen down the cellar stairs in the dark.
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Ace Merrill Character Timeline in The Body
The timeline below shows where the character Ace Merrill appears in The Body. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 25
...sick, but nothing happens. For a long time, the boys look at the body. Then Ace Merrill’s voice cuts through the din of wind and rain.
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Chapter 26
...jump. For a second, Vern thinks Ray Brower has spoken. Looking up, the gang sees Ace Merrill and Eyeball Chambers approaching from the wood, followed by Charlie Hogan, Billy Tessio, Fuzzy...
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After a surprised, speechless moment, Ace starts toward the younger boys, intent on breaking both of Gordie’s arms. Gordie, Vern, and...
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Chapter 27
Gordie can’t tell if Chris is bluffing or not, but it doesn’t really matter, because Ace and the others believe him, especially after he shoots in the direction of Eyeball’s feet....
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After a few more threats, Ace and his gang retreat. Chris follows them to make sure they’re really leaving, while Gordie...
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Chapter 29
...it isn’t over. Each expects a beating: Vern from Billy, Chris from Eyeball, Gordie from Ace, and Teddy from someone in Ace’s gang. But they’re proud that they did what they...
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Chapter 31
Ace—or someone—makes an anonymous phone call leading to the discovery of Ray Brower’s body. But no...
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Chapter 32
Near the end of September, Ace Merrill and Fuzzy Bracowicz beat Gordie to a bloody pulp in full sight of his...
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Chapter 34
...Rock to visit his Dad, and he caught a glimpse of an older and fatter Ace Merrill. Ace drove past Gordie on his way to one of Castle Rock’s dive bars,...
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