diff --git a/simplejson/_speedups.c b/simplejson/_speedups.c
index b608217826ff76697f563b7ffe12c04e8f02a6b2_c2ltcGxlanNvbi9fc3BlZWR1cHMuYw==..60728aa3dde6f17a83e4872a729182d0bfc9de4a_c2ltcGxlanNvbi9fc3BlZWR1cHMuYw== 100644
--- a/simplejson/_speedups.c
+++ b/simplejson/_speedups.c
@@ -506,4 +506,5 @@
         }
         /* Pick up this chunk if it's not zero length */
         if (next != end) {
+            PyObject *strchunk;
             APPEND_OLD_CHUNK
@@ -509,5 +510,5 @@
             APPEND_OLD_CHUNK
-            PyObject *strchunk = PyString_FromStringAndSize(&buf[end], next - end);
+            strchunk = PyString_FromStringAndSize(&buf[end], next - end);
             if (strchunk == NULL) {
                 goto bail;
             }