The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

We slept in late on Sunday morning. There wasn’t any reason to get up early. Lord knows we needed the rest, especially after last night’s adventures.

I popped awake to the sound of Andy snoring softly, snuggled up against me. (If there is any better way to wake up in the morning, I sure as heck don’t know what it is.) This morning he wasn’t the only person who needed a shower. I was rather rank, to put it mildly. After the energy I’d expended last night, I had half expected the smoke alarm to go off. (So I’m exaggerating just a tad here. Can you blame me? It was a night that I will long remember.) I didn’t feel like getting up, but I was hungry all the same. I needed something in me this morning. (I was talking about food, not Andy. Get your mind out of the gutter! Such naughty thoughts! You really ARE a slut puppy, aren’t you?) Since there wasn’t any room service available, that meant I would have to get my lazy bag of bones out of the bed and fix something. I didn’t have the heart to nudge Andy awake. He had given me such a fantastic time last night that fixing breakfast for him would be the least I could do to thank him and show my appreciation. So having make my mind up, I carefully crept out of the bed and headed off to the shower. I might be hungry but I needed to clean up first.

I took a nice long hot shower and scrubbed all that morning stink from my hide. I climbed out and dried myself off, feeling better able to face the day. I opened the bathroom door and wiped off the steam fogged mirror. I needed a few clear square inches of bathroom mirror in order to shave. Shaving and combing my damp hair occupied another ten minutes or so. I took one final look at my reflection in the still slightly steam fogged mirror, satisfied that I was at least presentable now. I slipped on my sky blue bathrobe (I had packed it as well as my bedroom slippers in my luggage, since I couldn’t be sure of finding anything like that here in the country house), and stuffed my still damp toes into my matching bedroom slippers as I headed off to the kitchen to get started on making breakfast.

Long before I arrived at the kitchen, my nose informed me that I was too late. I walked in to the kitchen to the appetizing aroma of fresh coffee brewing, and pancakes cooking. My mouth fairly watered as I caught the aroma of fresh bacon, too. Andy was standing in front of the stove, frying pan in hand, flipping fresh fluffy pancakes from the frying pan onto the dinner plate he held in his other hand. Sorry to disappoint you but Andy was not nude. He was wearing a pair of gray jeans, and a navy blue short sleeve casual shirt. A black belt passing through the loop of his jeans, encircled his waist. There was already a stack of at least three or four pancakes on that plate and he was adding another one. I flicked my eyes to the left of Andy and on the kitchen counter I saw another dinner plate with two or three pancakes already on it. Next to that plate was another one with a small mountain of bacon sitting on it, just begging to be eaten.

“Good morning, dear heart,” I called out to Andy as I walked up behind him. (I didn’t want to startle him and have him miss catching one of the pancakes.) “So what’s all this?”

“Breakfast, silly,” Andy replied as he caught the last pancake from the frying pan. He placed the frying pan off on an unused element on the stove, and turned off the element he’d been using. “If you’d like to help, you could get the orange juice from the refrigerator, as well as some glasses.”

“Sure thing, lover,” I replied as I got busy. In a few minutes the two of us had the table set and were ready to chow down on the hot and hearty breakfast that Andy had cooked up for us. I noted that Andy’s shirt wasn’t one of those pull over knit shirts with a short three button placket. This shirt had a full length placket with the usual five or six buttons down the front.

“You know, I was hoping to fix you breakfast this morning,” I said to Andy as I speared a few pieces of bacon from the plate in the center of the table and deposited them beside the pancakes on my plate. I grabbed the squeeze bottle of maple syrup and poured some of that heavenly liquid on my pancakes as I continued talking. “I thought it would be a nice way to thank you for last night.”

“I had the same idea,” Andy said as he grinned at me with cheeks stuffed full of pancakes. “I just beat you to the punch. Besides, I’m a better cook.”

“That you are,” I agreed in between mouthfuls of the wonderful warm blueberry pancakes with maple syrup. “You’ve outdone yourself, Andy,” I complimented him as I crunched the bacon and savored its salty crisp texture. (My bacon always comes out black, burned beyond recognition.)

I looked up from my plateful of food and gazed adoringly at Andy, as my tongue savored the taste of his pancakes. Suddenly I realized that Andy was as well scrubbed and freshly shaved as I was. “How in the world did you manage to take a shower or a bath or whatever, while I was hogging the shower?” I asked in a genuinely perplexed voice.

“I used the shower down in the basement,” Andy answered. “Apparently, there is a half bathroom down there in the extra bedroom. I learned how to shower ‘double time’ back in my cadet days, so I was finished long before you were. I figured I’d make good use of my free time and get an early start on making breakfast.”

“And here I thought you were just another pretty face,” I joked, after taking a long draft of orange juice from my glass.

“Yes, there is a brain behind these killer buns,” Andy joked back.

“Enough! You win!” I chuckled as a few bits of food flew out of my mouth. “All I ask is that you let me finish my breakfast in peace, before I wind up choking on something.”

“No problem. I know CPR and the Heimlich maneuver,” Andy said with a smile as he nodded his head while continuing to wolf down his food. The rest of our breakfast was quiet as we devoured the food in front of us. Well, to be honest, I ate my breakfast, and Andy devoured his. Having been through the RMCP training program Andy was afflicted with “Mounties Eating Disorder”, a common result of the six months of mess hall meals that conditioned him to eat fast and talk little at mealtimes. Often I had to remind him to slow down when we were out dining in a restaurant. We topped off our late breakfast with a couple of cups of coffee, and some idle chatter about how we would spend the day. I didn’t have any clear idea of what I wanted to do, and neither did Andy. We did agree on one thing, though, we did not want to spend the afternoon inside. A swim in the pool would have been nice, but we did not have any bathing suits with us, and skinny dipping during the afternoon didn’t seem very palatable to us. So we went out for a drive. The fresh air we decided would do us good. Before we left I did change into some clothes. A purple cowboy shit, with light blue jeans, a black belt, black cowboy boots and my black cowboy hat, is what I decided to wear.

We wound up driving back into the city. As I said before it was a short drive, only about thirty minutes so this did not annoy or irritate either of us. We spent the afternoon walking through the natural history museum, located west of the downtown area. I hadn’t been there in years, and Andy had ever been there period. So it was a new and interesting experience for both of us. We enjoyed ourselves and had a lot of fun. We also learned a lot too. Best of all, though, is that because it was a Sunday there were no scheduled tours or groups of tourists nosily parading through the building and around the displays. We could take our time. This gave us an opportunity to appreciate the time and effort that went in to creating many of these displays. I still shudder when I think of the ‘wall of snakes’ that we saw. Sure they were garter snakes (which are non-poisonous), and yes they were behind a glass wall, and of course they were not alive. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but shudder at the sight of what looked to be hundreds, if not thousands, of snakes intertwined in a huge mass, just inches from my face. It gave me the willies.

The other display that I remembered was that of the cougar. There was a full grown stuffed and mounted adult specimen. (Yeah, like it was necessary to mention that this was a stuffed and mounted cat? It’s not like they would have had a live cat in the display after all. Sometimes I can’t help but state the obvious.) What was interesting is the chills that ran up and down my back when I crouched down and looked that the cat head on. I felt like the cat was walking up to me, or stalking me. It was eerie, but at the same time kind of thrilling.

I am sure the more adventuresome (ahem...horny) readers out there are wondering to themselves why we spent so many hours in a stuffy old museum, when we could have spent those hours more productively at the country house, in bed. We did discuss that very point as a matter of fact, and we decided to save that particular event for the evening. We thought waiting a few hours would make our lovemaking all the more pleasurable. Good things should never be rushed. They should be savored and enjoyed to the fullest. Anticipation, we knew, would add a dash of spice to our evening. Besides, we were supposed to be exploring all the aspects of this relationship, not just our bodies. Being able to spend time together doing something that didn’t involve sex, hypnosis, or sharing profound thoughts, was essential to our relationship too. It was wonderful to just ‘be myself’ with Andy, in public and to have a simple conversation about the exhibits in the museum.

Afterward, while sitting in a street side café, we debated the controversy about caffeine in coffee and what health risks it posses. Andy was a bit more health conscious than I was (Can you say ‘gym rat’?), thus he expressed some concern about my love of coffee. We agreed to disagree on that point, and see where it went. After only six months together I wasn’t about to make any changes in my life style just to suit him. I was pleased when he didn’t harp on the subject. If he had not let subject drop, I would have become concerned, since that is one of the first signs of a controlling and manipulative personality. The afternoon passed pleasantly, and we decided to start the drive back to the country house, stopping on the way at a family restaurant for dinner. Dinning at a restaurant was my idea. Andy didn’t mind the idea of cooking dinner for us when we got back to the house, but I felt he’d done enough cooking for one day.

We arrived back at the country house just after 6 PM. We walked about the grounds a little to stretch our legs from the drive. Our aimless wandering eventually lead us to the kitchen door, and we decided at that point it was time to head back inside. We puttered about the kitchen a bit, making a couple of cups of tea, that we planned to spend slipping in the living room for a while. We were in no rush to head off to the bedroom. We’d go there when the mood was right. With coffee mugs in hand (even if they did contain tea), we headed off to the living room.

The living room was dim, but fortunately there was enough light coming from the kitchen for us to make our way to the sofa and put our mugs and saucers down on the coffee table, without banging our shins on any of the furniture.

“I don’t suppose you’d consider offering me a cup of tea as well?” Asked a voiced out of the darkness.

My heart skipped a beat, as a flash of fear tore through my mind at the sound of that strange voice. Suddenly light flooded the living room as one of the lamps was turned on. The light got brighter as the lamp was turned to its highest setting. I blinked my eyes a few time to adjust to the sudden brightness and looked in the direction where the voice had come from.

Seated in the far overstuffed chair of the living room was a man, the obvious source of the strange voice. As he sat there looking at Andy and me, I noticed that his legs were crossed one over the other, in a casual almost informal matter which was a stark contrast to the way he was dressed. This man, whomever he was, appeared to be wearing an expensive looking dark blue double breasted pinstripe suit. A flashy bright red tie in front of a dazzlingly white shirt complimented the suit. The shoes on his feet were a polished black leather of some kind and looked to be very expensive. He looked like a lawyer, a very successful lawyer. Suddenly I had a bad feeling about this, and not just because this guy looked like a lawyer. I didn’t have to be physic to know that this man’s sudden appearance wasn’t an indication of good news. What it meant I had no idea, and that thought got me to worrying.

Since this man was sitting down it was rather difficult to estimate his height or his build. I would have guessed him at maybe five feet eight inches tall, and somewhat on the slim side. So I would have guessed his weight at somewhere around one hundred and fifty five pounds at the most. He did not look physically imposing, but he had an air of confidence that seemed to surround him. I think it was his eyes. They were a cold battleship gray, and had a harsh steely look to them. Those eyes matched the rest of his thin face perfectly. An elegant closely trimmed mustache of black hair rested between the thin sharp nose and the thin upper lip of this man. The rest of his face was clean shaven, without so much as a suggestion of five o’clock shadow on his face. His bottom lip was only marginally thicker than his upper lip which gave the impression that his man was always pressing his lips together slightly in annoyance or frustration. It was a most unfriendly expression. His black hair was neatly trimmed, as one might expect, and cropped closely to his head. His hairline was receding and had been for some time. There was a bald spot on his head which covered the front half of his head, and probably went down part of the way down the back of his head too. It was measure of his self assurance that he did not attempt to hid this area of pink flesh with a toupee or any other social aid. This was a man who was sure of himself. “Definitely looks like a lawyer,” I thought to myself as I finished looking the man over. I added it all up in my mind and it spelled out one word. Dangerous.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Andy barked out at the man, distracting me from my worries. Andy wasn’t angry. He was furious! I had never heard such anger and heat in his voice before. I looked over at him, and my jaw dropped open at what I saw. Andy’s face was flushed a bright red as he struggled to keep his anger in check. His eyes blazed with anger. He held his body stiffly erect as if he were a hair’s breath away from launching himself at the man sitting in the chair in front of us. I gulped at him, in spite of myself. I’d always seen the kind gentle compassionate side of Andy. Sure I’d seen Andy upset before, but this was different, very different. Andy looked like he was getting ready to go into battle. I wasn’t scared of him, since I knew his anger wasn’t directed at me. I was dumbfounded, pure and simple.

“All in good time,” the man answered Andy. “The least you could do Constable Anderson, is to make the introductions.” This man spoke calmly as if he had all the time in world. His voice oozed with self-assurance. Clearly he was in control of this situation and he knew it.

“Paul Walton, it is my displeasure to acquaint you with Todd Herbertson,” Andy said between clenched teeth. Clearly he was expending a tremendous effort to keep his temper in check.

“Pleased to meet you, Mr., Walton,” Todd said to me with a grin so calculating and evil that I was surprised horns and a tail did not appear in that instant.

“I’m sorry, but the feeling is not at all mutual,” I responded coolly. It was true that I did not know this man from Adam, however it was clear that Andy had dealt with Todd before. Andy disliked him, and that was enough for me. Andy continued to do an admirable job of keeping his temper in check, yet his loathing for Todd was very apparent. If looks could kill, Mr. Herbertson would have been lying on the floor suffering his final death agonies.

‘Now, now, don’t be doing that,” Todd addressed me in condescending tone that grated on my nerves. The smile on his face had faded to a small smirk. “You and I have never met, Mr. Walton. It is presumptuous of you to be jumping to conclusions about me. Why I haven’t even informed you as to why I have chosen to grace you with my presence this evening.”

“Very true,” I conceded, keeping my voice cool and calm, and my face as neutral as I could. “However you remain an uninvited guest, who has seen fit to inflict his unwanted presence upon us this evening. There is little that you can do, in my opinion, to remedy the situation, or to make amends.”

“Who said anything about making amends?” Todd asked and that evil grin flashed back on his face. “But I have wasted enough time on you. It is Constable Andrews whom I came to talk with. We have business.”

“No, we don’t,” Andy said in a icy voice. “How many times to I have to keep telling you ‘no’?”

“I think I have something here that just might change your mind, Constable,” Todd said as he reached down and grabbed something from the side of the chair he was sitting in. A leather briefcase emerged from the shadow of the chair. Todd placed the briefcase on the coffee table in front of him. He looked up at us and with glee he opened the briefcase.

The briefcase was opened away from us and thus the top concealed whatever it was that the briefcase contained. I half expected Todd to pull out a gun, except that he didn’t need to threaten us. It would have been out of character for such a an arrogant man to have needed to stoop to such a mundane device. Todd suddenly spun the briefcase about so that it was facing towards us and we could clearly see the inside.

The blood drained from my face, as I gazed upon the objects revealed. It took me a few minutes to comprehend what I was looking at. It was a pile of photographs. Yes, I understood that easily enough. It was the subject matter of the photograph that was such a shock to me. It was a photograph of Andy and me. Andy and me, standing on the pool deck, in our suits. With numb fingers I picked up the pile of photographs and started to look through them. I wasn’t all that surprised to see that our entire adventure on the pool deck and in the pool had been well documented. As the initial shock wore off, I began to admire the quality of the photography. Professional work, all right. I handed the photographs to Andy.

He took them from my hands and briefly flipped through them. He handed them back to me, without saying a word. I replaced the photographs in the briefcase and looked up at Andy. The anger on his face was still there, but now mixed with it was fear and frustration. Andy’s body sagged as he let go of his anger and tried to focus on the problem that had suddenly shown up on our doorstep.

“Blackmail” I said, as I let out a soft sigh. It was statement not a question.

“Blackmail is such an ugly word,” Todd responded smiling with glee. “Let’s just call it a vicious threat.” He spoke with such cheerfulness that I wanted to spit on him. (I’m being kind when I say that. I was picturing Todd stripped down to his waist, bent over a chair, screaming in pain as he was being whipped with a cat-o’—nine-tails. Three guesses who was doing the whipping. Here’s a clue. It wasn’t Andy. With some reluctance, I banished the image from my mind and focused on the problem at hand.)

“I take it that this is somehow related to the business that you were alluding to earlier,” I surmised. I didn’t know what this was about yet, but I was sure that I’d find out soon enough. I took little comfort from that thought.

“You’re fast on the draw, cowboy,” Todd remarked sarcastically to me, as he turned and looked at Andy.

“No,” Andy replied to the unspoken question, but his voice was shaky.

““Hold on just a sec, Andy,” I said as I interrupted him before he could continue speaking.. Turning my attention to Todd I questioned him. “Are you wired?”

“What?” Todd replied, surprised at my question.

“Are you recording this conversation?” I asked him, rephrasing my question to be sure he understood what I was suggesting.

“Of course not,” Todd replied. “This conversation is not going to leave this room.”

“Then you won’t have any objection to letting Andy check that you are not carrying any hidden recording devices, or microphones, will you?” I asked him as I pushed my point home. The experience of Chuck and Andy bugging my apartment, had taught me just how easy it could be to make a clandestine recording. Already I was cogitating how I might use my powers to evade this trap of Todd’s. The problem was I didn’t want any type of evidence left behind of me using my powers. I wanted to keep a lid on this and not have any loose ends to have to go and tie off later. Of course that was assuming that my powers even worked on Todd in the first place.

“Clever. You’re smarter than I thought,” Todd said to me, mildly surprised.

“Give me some credit, Todd,” I fumed at him as I bit back the stinging retort that was on my tongue. “It doesn’t take a lot of brains to realize that if you managed to arrange a secret photography session, that you might have a few other tricks up your sleeve.”

I waved Andy over towards Todd. As Andy approached him, Todd stood up and moved away from the chair, so that Andy would have easy access to search Todd’s entire body. As Andy was an experienced RCMP constable, he would know exactly what to look for, and what to check. I waited as patiently as I could while Andy did a body search of Todd Herbertson. Andy took his time, and was very careful and thorough. He started the search with the inside of Todd’s shoes. After that Andy nearly tore Todd’s briefcase apart as he checked it for any hidden equipment.

I turned and stared at the far living room wall, while Andy continued with his search, thus I can’t give you a blow by blow description of what happened. I had more important things to think about, and looking at Andy searching Todd would prove to be too much of a distraction. I had plenty of questions, but I was damn short on answers. First and foremost, though was to see if my powers would even work on Todd. For all I knew he might be naturally immune like Andy, which would make getting out of this trap all the more difficult. I took a couple of deep relaxing breaths and let my mind approach the problem slowly step by step.

First would be a simple test to see if Todd responded to one of my commands. If that failed I would have to fall back on using a compulsion field and regular hypnosis. My recent encounter with Cody and his buddies had turned out to be a lot more that just fun. The experience had taught me skills that just might let Andy and I walk away from all of this. The key was subtly. Todd was most likely a lawyer, and lawyers are very good at manipulating people. It follows then, that they are also keen on detecting when someone is trying to manipulate them. Since this is exactly what I had in mind, I would have to be very, very careful.

My mind made up, and with at least the outline of a plan in hand, I kept my back to Andy and Todd, and waited for the inspection to finish. While I waited I gathered up my powers and sent them out behind me, doing a scan in the general area of Andy and Todd. As expected Andy’s mind showed up on my mental radar as a fuzzy and indistinct blip, from which I could not detect any type of emotions. Todd was different. He showed up as a solid blip, which suggested that he wasn’t immune to my powers, but at the same time I couldn’t seem to pick up much in the way of emotions from him either. This suggested that he might be gifted and be shielding his mind from me. It was difficult to be certain of much of anything with only a passive scan. (By the way, my experience to date had shown me that regardless of whether or not they were gifted, other people always showed up on my mental radar as blips. Andy was the only exception to this, which I had ever encountered. I assumed that his immunity to my super hypnosis powers is what caused him to appear as a fuzzy blip on my mental radar.)

“He’s clean,” Andy reported about ten minutes later. (As I said, Andy did a thorough body search.) I turned around and faced the two of them.

“Good. I guess that means we can talk freely. Now would one of you please be kind enough to tell me exactly what this is all about?” I asked them both as I gestured at them to sit down. By this time Todd was once again wearing his elegant shoes.

“Oh, please let me,” Todd tittered. It was clear that he was going to enjoy telling me this business, whatever it was. Now I was really starting to feel uncomfortable, and more than just a bit annoyed too. Todd was enjoying this just a little too much. He sat down in the chair that he had been occupying when I first met him. Andy walked around the far end of the sofa and sat down. I sat down next to Andy, and gently took hold of his right hand with my left hand. I gave Andy’s hand a good strong squeeze in a silent gesture of support. Andy squeezed back. Todd already knew that Andy and I were involved, so there was no point in hiding how we felt about each other. Frankly holding Andy’s hand made me feel better. Not a lot, but some.

“The client that I represent, would like Andy to develop a slight case of amnesia regarding a specific event that Andy was involved with,” Todd began speaking, not even trying to hide the glee in his voice. “The case comes up to trial in a couple of weeks. If Constable Anderson cooperates then these photographs will not appear in the local newspaper, nor will they be sent to the shift commander of the local RCMP detachment. That’s the deal.”

“Ah, I see,” I said solemnly. “What about me?”

“My client has no interest in you,” Todd said disdainfully. “You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s ironic, actually. The plan was to merely acquire compromising photographs of Constable Anderson with a woman, but this is so much better.” Todd grinned at me evilly as he looked me right in the eyes.

“Stand up, open your fly, sit down and do not remember doing so,” I thought at Todd, as I launched my powers at his mind, using a very low power level. The command failed to penetrate his mind. It bounced off the surface of his mind like an elastic band hitting a wall. Todd didn’t even blink. “Shit!” I thought to myself. “Todd’s gifted and he has a shield up. God damn it!” There was no indication that he’d even felt my probe of his shield, though. I was mildly surprised. I doubled the power level and launched the command a second time, all within only a second or two. Again the command failed to penetrate into Todd’s mind. This time however, I felt my command gnaw at the edge of his shield as the energy of my attack slid off of his shield.

The smile on Todd’s face faded and look of pain crossed his face. He placed the tips of his fingers of either hand on the side of his head. Slowly he started to massage his temples with small round motions of his finger tips. Clearly he’d felt that probe of his shield.

“Are you okay?” I asked him.

“Yeah, I guess so. I just felt a sudden sharp pain in my head,” Todd said as he continued to rub his temples.

“A headache?” I prompted him.

“No, not really. It was more like something was trying to drill inside of my skull,” Todd said as he winced again.

“Maybe a drink would help,” I said to Todd. “I know I could use one. How about you get a tall glass of orange juice on the rocks for each of us, okay Andy?” I asked him as I turned my head and looked at him.

“Yeah, sure,” Andy said surly, and shot me a dark look. A drink of any kind, was clearly the last thing that he wanted. He stood up grudgingly and headed off to the kitchen. I sat back in the sofa and closed my eyes. I thought about my two attempts to super hypnotize Todd. They had both failed. Clearly he had some type of shield, but it didn’t appear to be very strong. Todd also did not appear to be gifted after all. If he had been gifted he would have recognized my mental attack, for what it was. My second attack had been deflected, but not before it had dug into his shield a bit. I could probably have broken through Todd’s shield since I was exerting only a small fraction of my powers, but it would have been painful for him. I might not like the guy, but that wasn’t a reason to hurt him. So far he’d only threatened Andy and me, but he hadn’t actually done anything other that show us those photographs. I decided to use the subtle approach. I gathered up my powers and began to quickly build up a compulsion field around Todd. The field carried one command, “It feels natural and nice to go along with what Paul says.”

“Here’s the juice,” Andy announced coolly, a few minutes later. I opened my eyes to see that Andy had returned with a tray and three tall glasses of orange juice on ice. By that time I had the compulsion field firmly entrenched about Todd. I did not need to keep pouring power into it. I picked up one of the glasses and took a small sip.

“Thank you Andy,” I said as I turned to him. “That’s tastes very good.” I slowly turned my head took at Todd. “Are you feeling better now?”

“Yes,” He said as he picked the glass nearest him and took a sip. Replacing the glass on the tray he sat back in the chair and looked at Andy. The silence in the room made me uncomfortable. Finally after about a minute, Todd spoke to Andy. “So what is your decision?”

Andy looked at Todd and the anger on Andy’s face flared up again. Andy turned to look at me and profound sadness replaced the anger in a heartbeat. I saw Andy swallow as he opened his mouth to speak. Whatever the words were that he wanted to speak, they would not come. Andy looked at me, with an expression of utter helplessness and pain etched plainly on his face. The expression on his face grew more profound with each passing minute.

“Ooo, caught between a rock and hard place are we?” Todd snickered, as he studied Andy’s face. “I just love this! A big strong RCMP constable, who’s a closet queer, can’t make up his mind. This IS rich!”

My face suddenly became hot as the blood surged into it. I blushed at Todd’s words. They hurt. For a half a heartbeat I was tempted to crash through Todd’s shield and super hypnotize him right then and there, regardless of the pain he’d feel. The man clearly had little compassion or empathy for anyone else. A quick second thought made me realize that I’d be lowering myself to his level. I can’t think of anything worse than lowering yourself to the level of a lawyer. Why even snakes get more respect!

“And his boyfriend is all hot and bothered by it!” Todd chortled. “This is just too good to be true!’ Todd broke up into a fit of laughter while Andy and I sat there suffering in silence. Any retort that we could have offered would only have fueled Todd’s laughter. I left Todd to enjoy himself. As much as I wanted to walk over there and smack him, it wouldn’t help matters. Besides I had something far more subtle and satisfying in mind. I just had to think of the right way to lead Todd into my own little trap.

I picked up my glass of orange juice and drained it. I gulped down the cold satisfying liquid, leaving only the three large ice cubes in the glass. I leaned forward and held the glass in both hands using only the tips of my fingers. This provided me with a clear unobstructed view of the contents of the glass. The glass was at about chest level. I began gazing intently on the ice cubes as if they were the most important thing in world to me. I stared and waited. Todd’s laughter had finally died off by this time.

“What are you doing, Paul?” Andy asked me after a minute of silence.

“Thinking,” I said to him. “You’ve got a decision to make. Whatever you decide, I’ll stand behind you.”

“Thanks for putting me in the hot seat, Paul!” Andy snapped at me. He wasn’t happy with me, at least not right now. I forgave him his anger and annoyance with me. After all I couldn’t tell him what I was up to, otherwise it might not work. On second thought it would work, but it would be a bit more difficult to pull off and much less subtle.

“Have you ever really looked at ice cubes, Todd?” I asked the man as I looked up at him, with a bland expression on my face. (Considering how I felt about him at the time, keeping a bland expression on my face was an acting job worthy of an Oscar.) “I’ve always been fascinated by the way they catch and reflect the light.”

“No, I can’t say as I’ve given them much thought,” Todd said as he looked back at me, slightly taken aback at the abrupt change in the direction of the conversation. Todd was sitting in the chair with his right leg crossed over his left leg at the knee. His hands were clasped together, held on top and just in front of his right knee. It did not strike me as a particularly comfortable position. From what I could tell, his jacket was still done up. I could only surmise that after Andy had searched him, Todd had done his suit jacket back up. The man had style, you had to give him that.

“While Andy’s thinking over your proposal, why not take the time and look at them. I think you’ll find it interesting,” I said to him.

“Why should I bother?” He asked me in a bored voice, but still he looked over in my direction, and flicked his eye briefly at the ice cubes in the glass I was holding.

“It will help to pass the time,” I informed him. “Andy has much to think about, and I think it only fair that you give him a few minutes to carefully consider his options.”

“Oh, all right,” Todd said with a sigh. “I suppose it will help pass the time, but I think I’d rather watch television.” Todd shifted his position and turned his head to look directly at the ice cubes in my glass, the disinterest plain upon his face.

“It’s amazing that simple frozen water can look so beautiful and be so refreshing at the same time,” I said as I modulated the pitch of my voice to a smooth even tone. “I’ll bet you’ve never realized before that ice can be so smooth, clear and bright all at the same time. It doesn’t take long to see the complexity of something that is so simple.” (Unless you have spent the last few minutes standing upside down with your head in a bucket of piranha, dear reader, you have probably come to the conclusion that with those few sentences I was starting the hypnotic induction of Todd.)

“Generally the more intelligent the person the quicker they are to see what I mean,” I said to Todd as I appealed to his vanity. (Over the years I’ve come to realize that everyone likes to think that they are just a bit smarter than somebody else, which is why this suggestion seems to be accepted so easily.) “It becomes even easier to see especially when the ice cubes move about a bit,” I commented in a smooth soothing tone of voice, as I spun the glass about just a tad.

“The way that the light seems to move in and around the surface and the edges of each cube is what always makes me sigh with pleasure,” I spoke softly but clearly enough for Todd to hear me. A second or so later I let out a soft sigh. “The odd thing is that after looking that the ice cubes for a while I start to feel more relaxed and calm then when I started. I’m sure you know what I mean, Todd,” I said keeping the tone of my voice smooth and soft.

“Yeah, I suppose that could happen,” Todd agreed in a slightly softer tone of voice, that still carried overtones of boredom. The lack of interest on his face was still apparent. His eyes however, betrayed him. They were looking at the ice cubes with slightly more than a pittance of interest.

“It seems that the more I look at the ice cubes and how they reflect the light, the more relaxed I feel,” I said as I slowly looked away from the ice cubes in my glass and searched out Todd’s face. I indulged myself in a brief and small smile when I beheld the sight of Todd looking solidly at the glass in my hand. “It not only feels relaxing to keep on looking at the ice cubes, but also natural somehow,” I continued without missing a beat. “So easy somehow, so natural, and so good to keep looking at the ice cubes and almost seeming to loose oneself in them.” As I spoke I moved the glass slightly to the left, and then back to the right. Todd’s eyes tracked the glass like radar dishes.

“The mind is an amazing thing,” I said keeping my tones smooth and flowing, being sure not to try and rush the induction. I let out another soft sigh. “When a person succeeds in focusing their mind on something, it seems to become easier. So much so, that the person often lets out a small sigh of satisfaction, without even realizing it.” I let out another soft sigh.

“I doubt it,” Todd dissented, as he sighed softly. I wasn’t sure if he was consciously fighting my suggestions, or if they were just taking time to penetrate that thick skull, and shield of his. In any case, I was committed to attempting this, so there was no point in stopping now.

“It’s so simple and easy to keep on looking at the ice cubes. It’s actually enjoyable, because the more that you look at the cubes the better you feel and the better you feel, the more you look at the cubes.” This was the tricky part, switching from using the word ‘I’, to the word ‘you’. I studied Todd carefully as I spoke to him, looking for any sign that he might be fighting or rejecting the suggestions I was giving him. The compulsion field was still in effect, so the command it contained, which urged Todd to go along with what I said, would provide a strong counter to any resistance or unease that he might feel. At least I hoped that it would.

“Why would anyone want to look at ice cubes?” Todd asked as he wrenched those cool gray eyes of his away from the ice cubes and looked me square in the eyes. Genuine puzzlement had replaced the look of disinterest that had clouded his face earlier. He blinked his eyes at me a few times as he continued to look at me, looking a bit lost and confused.

Quickly I thrust out a blunted mental probe at his shield. I wasn’t trying to penetrate it only to get a feel for his shield to see if it had changed at all. I was hard pressed not to smile at what I my probe revealed. Todd’s shield was still present, but it was noticeably weaker and softer. Even my blunted probe was able to press into his shield like pressing your finger into a sheet of plastic wrap. It gives in a bit, but does not allow you to break through.

While I doing these mental gymnastics Todd’s eyes had drifted away from mine and began to look about the room as if searching for something. He quickly spied the ice cubes in the glass, and his gaze latched onto them like a baby clamping its mouth on its mother’s breast. Todd let out a soft sigh a second or two later and the expression of puzzlement started to fade from his face.

“When you can sense that feeling of relaxation start to grow just a little bit as you keep your eyes on the bright clear shiny ice cubes, you find a small sight of contentment escaping from your lips,” I said smoothly as I continued my patter, completely ignoring Todd’s question. “It’s an easy and pleasant way to pass the time, to just keep looking at the ice cubes and so you keep on looking at them. Enjoying yourself more and more with each passing minute.”

The last few shreds of puzzlement melted away from Todd’s face as the meaning of my suggestions started to penetrate his mind. The compulsion field amplified the strength of the suggestions making them more potent.

“The satisfaction you feel, when you look at the ice cubes seems to grow with each blink of your eyes and with each breath that you take,” I said suavely. “And it seems with each sigh, and with each blink of your eyes, the feeling of relaxation grows just a bit stronger. And it feels so good, so nice, so peaceful, that you just keep on looking, staring at the ice cubes. For now, for right now, the ice cubes and how they make you feel, is that you want to think about. Such thoughts are pleasing and satisfying to you, so you go ahead and think about them, and nothing else.”

Todd sighed a few times, and his eyes blinked at he continued to stare at the ice cubes in the glass. I was pretty sure that he had take the bait, hook line and sinker. Still, I had learned over the years that slow and sure was the best way to insure success, no matter how well or quickly the subject seemed to respond.

“Soon and very soon indeed, when you start to feel just a bit more relaxed you’ll notice a change in your breathing,” I prompted him, letting the silky tones of my voice wash over his ears. “So when you feel your breathing become deep and rhythmic, really pleasant, you just go ahead and nod your head once as you eyes remain fixed and focused on the ice cubes.”

“Ice cubes,” Todd muttered, almost to himself as he let out another sigh, somewhat louder this time. A few moments later his head nodded once, ever so slightly.

“For it seems with each word that I speak and with each breath that you take, you can sense and feel the relaxation growing and becoming stronger. More profound, more desirable, more enjoyable,” I encouraged him. “Each and every time, when you feel that happening, that relaxation growing and becoming stronger, you can’t help but sigh with delight and nod your head in agreement. It is so easy to do. You can’t seem to help yourself. The harder you try not to sigh or to nod your head, the stronger the urge becomes to sigh and nod. Nod and sigh. Sigh and nod. And to let go even more with each sigh and nod.”

Todd’s face wrinkled in puzzlement for a moment as the last of my suggestions started to sink into his mind. But the confusion melted away as the first deep sigh escaped his lips. His head nodded once, then twice and then twice more. In less than a minute Todd was sighing and nodding his head every few seconds, and his eyes had taken on a slightly glazed look. His face meanwhile had become slack and relaxed. Clearly he was well on to his way in to a hypnotic trance, but that wasn’t enough for me. “Looking at the ice cubes, and not thinking of anything else, because thinking about the ice cubes and how relaxing and comforting it is to look at them is all that you can think of,” I prompted him. “It is all that you want or desire to do right now.”

“Look...at...the....ice....cubes,” Todd said thickly. “Yes...so...nice.....so...peaceful.”

“The more relaxed you feel, the easier it is becomes to speak and to respond,” I said to him. “Even now, as you listen to the soothing smooth silky tones of my voice, you can feel the words that I speak help you to relax more and more, can’t you, Todd?” I asked him.

“Yes, your voice, so soothing,” he agreed speaking much more clearly that he was a moment before. “I like the sound of your voice.” Todd let out a deep sigh and a smile flickered on his lips for a moment before he snuffed it out.

“I’m glad that you like the sound of my voice,” I said to him. “For it seems that with each word that I utter and with each breath that you take, you can sense and feel yourself going down deeper and deeper into this wonderful state of relaxation. A state where you don’t have any worries, concerns or cares. You can just let yourself go, and drift on down deeper and deeper. For the deeper you go the better you feel, and the better you feel the deeper you go. Always going deeper, always feeling better.”

“Deeper, oh yes, deeper,” Todd agreed, as he nodded his head a few times and sighed deeply. His face had become completely blank, and his eyes had a far away look to them as if he were gazing off into the distance. His body had not moved an inch though. He was still sitting forward with his right leg crossed over his left at the knee and his hands clasped together over his right knee. He wasn’t relaxing enough to let go of that position. Either that, or since I had not told him to sit back in the chair like a rag doll, he wasn’t going to do that.

“So continue to gaze at the ice cubes and feel yourself going even deeper, feeling even more relaxed and comfortable as your eyes fill with the sight of the ice cubes,” I said to him as I got ready for the next phase.

“Ice cubes. Nothing but the ice cubes,” Todd muttered as he blinked his eyes and focused them on the ice cubes again.

While Todd occupied himself with that, I got to work. I gather my super hypnosis mental powers and thrust out a simple command, at very low power, into Todd’s mind. “Giggle once,” I sent into his mind. Instantly Todd giggled, and then his face went blank again as he continued to watch the ice cubes. There didn’t appear to be the slighted iota of resistance left in Todd. I slowly increased the strength of my mental probe as I attempted to scan his mind. His shield was gone. I had not broken through it, it had just disappeared. I thought about that for a few moments before I sent in any further commands. It seemed logical that if Todd’s shield was a natural phenomena, it would be generated by distrust, caution, and suspicion of another person. With Todd relaxed as he was now, and getting more relaxed by the moment, his defenses would be down, and that would account quite nicely for the lowering of his mental shield. Of course I was guessing about all this. I would only know for sure if I were to touch Todd and to probe into his mind. I wasn’t quite ready for that yet. I thought carefully for a second or three as I decided what commands to insert into Todd’s mind. A cursory check on the compulsion field showed that it was still in place and as strong as ever. Excellent. It would make my mental commands even more effective.

“Each suggestion that Paul makes to you, takes effect as soon as you hear it,” I thought carefully as I directed my powers into Todd’s mind. I smiled in spite of myself, as I saw Todd’s face go completely blank under the influence of my powers. I increased the power gradually pushing the thought deeper and deeper into his mind. Todd’s eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open into a silent “oh” of surprise as my simple command penetrated into the deeper levels of his mind. After about a minute I stopped sending out my command.

“Paul, what are you doing?” Andy asked me, interrupting the silence. I turned my head to look at him. His handsome face had lost its earlier expression of anger and fear. He was baffled as to what was going on. Quickly I placed the index finger of my right hand to my lips in the universal gesture to keep quiet. I turned my attention back to Todd.

“The relaxation starts spreading out from your torso to every muscle in your body now, as you go even deeper,” I said to him, as I continued with the verbal induction. My words added even more suggestions for him to cope with. “The deeper you go the better you feel, and the better you feel the deeper you go. Always going deeper. Always feeling better. More and more relaxed and comfortable, as you go down deeper.”

“Deeper, yes...” Todd agree as the frozen look of surprise on his face faded away. He sighed softly and his face started to relax as the suggestions I gave him began to take effect in earnest.

“Body feeling so relaxed and comfortable, now,” I urged him as I continued to speak softly and clearly. “Muscles so relaxed that your body starts to feel pleasantly heavy and comfortable. A warm pleasant heaviness that seems to become more profound with each word that I utter and with each breath that you take.”

Todd’s head nodded ever so slightly, but he didn’t say anything nor offer any confirmation that he was feeling what I was telling him to feel. I smiled as I realized I would have to use a somewhat more literal approach with this man. “Every muscle in you arms and legs feeling so relaxed right now, that it almost seems as if the force of gravity has increased. You can feel it pulling on your arms and legs, making them feel heavier and heavier the longer you keep looking at the ice cubes,” I suggested to him as I continued with the induction. “Yet it feels so good to keep looking at the ice cubes and to watch the light as it reflects of the surfaces of the cubes, that you find you can’t stop looking at them.”

I flicked a quick glance at Todd’s arms and legs and notice that his arms were starting to droop slightly. His elbows were definitely hanging a bit lower than before, although his hands remained clasped together on his right knee. “In fact you discover now, that if you try to look away from the ice cubes you can’t do it,” I declared to him. “So go ahead and try! You’ll find that the harder you try to look away from the ice cubes, the more you discover that you can’t look away.” I stopped speaking for a moment to watch the suggestion take effect.

A wonderful warm feeling passed though me as I watched Todd struggle to look away from the ice cubes. He turned his head to the left and then to the right, but he could not unlock his gaze from the ice cubes. A look of worry and concern started to paint his face as he discovered that what I told him was true.

“But it doesn’t matter, though,” I assured him as I assuaged his growing fears. “All that is important to keep looking at the ice cubes and to feel the waves of warm relaxation flow into your mind and over your body washing away any and all worries, concerns or cares that you might have. The longer you gaze upon the ice cubes the deeper you go. Going down, down, down. Deeper and deeper and deeper.”

“Yes, deeper...” Todd crooned as the worry on his face melted away. He blinked his eyes several times as he focused his attention fully on the ice cubes. “So nice...so good...just want to go deeper.”

“Arms are so heavy and so relaxed now that if I were to snap my fingers, your fingers would unlace and your arms would drop down and hang limply by the side of your thighs,” I said to Todd as I savored the sight of his blank expressionless face. He looked like he didn’t have a thought in his head, except for his desire to keep looking at the ice cubes in the glass that I held. (Ah, yes these are the moments I live for! The moment when a subject is on the brink of surrender, even if the subject doesn’t yet realize it.) “You’d feel yourself going even deeper then, and it would feel wonderful to have your arms resting by your thighs, wouldn’t it?” I asked him.

Todd nodded his head absently as he agreed to my suggestions. (Like he had any choice in the matter? Get real!) Between the compulsion field and my direct commands into his mind, he was putty in my hands. I was going to enjoy playing with that putty, and molding it, just a little bit, before night was through.

“You want me to snap my fingers, don’t you Todd?” I asked him (God, how I loved dragging out moments like this!)

“Uh, huh,” Todd muttered softly, as if speaking words were beyond him.

“Please answer my questions clearly, Todd,” I scolded him, letting a touch of anger creep into my voice.

“I’m sorry,” Todd replied as he gulped in surprise at hearing the anger in my voice. “Yes, I would like you to snap your fingers. Please?” He said softly. He wasn’t begging, just asking nicely. I granted him his request.

SNAP!

I focused my gaze on Todd’s hands, and waited. I didn’t see any sign of movement. I prepared to snap my fingers a second time, just in case Todd hadn’t heard the first snap. Then my eyes caught a slight twitch of Todd’s well manicured fingers. The fingers of both hands started to wiggle and they slowly unlaced themselves. Slowly Todd’s hands pulled away from each other. When his hands had separated from each other, Todd’s arms slid down off of his right leg and off to his sides. His arms hung there limply by his sides like the arms of a rag doll. Todd let out a loud sigh, bordering on a moan as his eyes opened wide for a moment and a huge grin broke out on his face. The grin quickly faded to a small smirk, and his eyes blinked a few times as he fought to focus them back on the ice cubes in the glass. ‘Oh, yessssss......” Todd hissed out loud as his head bobbed up and down a few times. “So...... nice......deeper....and....deeper,” he muttered. The room was so quiet that I had no trouble hearing him.

“With the next snap of my fingers, Todd, you’ll uncross your legs and put your shoes flat on the floor. Once you do that every muscle in your legs will become completely relaxed and limp, causing you to go down even deeper into this wonderfully relaxed state,” I instructed him as I got ready to this next part of the show.

“Yes, I understand,” Todd said quietly, his eyes still fixed on the ice cubes in the glass.

SNAP!

Todd took a deep breath and let it out in a deep sigh. His lips curved in to a small smile. His right leg twitched, drawing my attention away from Todd’s face. Slowly as if every moment required the utmost concentrate of will and attention, Todd dragged his right leg off of his left knee. Once clear of his left knee, his right leg slide down off of the right side of his left leg. His right shoe hit the floor with a small thump, and at a slight angle. Todd sat there for a second or two as if trying to remember what it was that he had to do next. Slowly he dragged his right shoe to the right a bit and placed it flat on the floor. Todd took a deep breath and held it briefly. As he exhaled his legs relaxed and spread apart, revealing the crotch of his suit pants. His double breast suit jacket was still done up, and he was leading back just enough in the chair to clearly show some of the fly of his pants. I couldn’t make out any details, but that didn’t deter from the nice sight Todd presented me.

“Well done, Todd,” I congratulated him. “You’re so deeply relaxed now, that you’re slumping down into the chair even as I speak. You can’t help but relax more and more, sliding down in the chair, just a bit, and enjoying yourself.”

Todd responded immediately. He pressed his back into the chair and slid a bit forward and down, the smile on his face growing just a bit larger as he sighed contentedly.

“Even your eyes now, are so relaxed that you’re having trouble keeping them open,” I said to him as I relished what I knew was about to happen. “With each blink of your eyes, your eyelids get heavier and heavier. Soon, and very soon indeed, you’ll be unable to open your eyes after you blink. And when that happens, you’ll feel yourself letting go completely. When you can’t open your eyes, because your eyelids are just too heavy, you will go down ten times deeper than you are now. So deep in fact, that your body will become completely and totally relaxed. You’ll slide out of your chair as if someone had greased it, collapsing onto the floor in a totally relaxed and comfortable heap.”

Todd nodded his head and smiled vacantly as he listened to my words. He blinked his eyes as he tried to keep his eyes focused on the ice cubes in the glass. Even before I had finished my instructions to him, I could see that they were taking effect. Todd’s blinks became slow and determined. He was closing his eyes and then opening them a half a second later. It wasn’t exactly blinking, but it still had the desired effect. I could see the struggle and effort Todd was putting in to opening his eyes. Todd’s head started to drop down each time he closed his eyes, and when he would force open his eyes, his head would pop up again. The delay between the closing of his eyes and the forced opening slowly started to lengthen. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched Todd’s struggle to open his eyes just one more time, became more and more problematic. The slow falling and rising of his head as he continued his titanic struggle only fueled the fire of my satisfaction. I didn’t need to say anything more. Todd was well on his way.

“Why.....are....my....eyes....getting....heavy?” Todd asked slowly, with pauses between the words. His voice was clear, steady and soft, although it was plain he was having difficulty in formulating the question much less asking it. I was slightly taken aback that he was even able to ask such a question. He should have been slipping quietly into a deep trance, but he was resisting. May it was the logical part of his lawyer’s mind that demanded an explanation for everything.

“The light reflecting off of the ice cubes is getting stronger and brighter as the ice cubes melt,” I advised him. “It’s only natural that your eyes would start to feel strained and tired after gazing at the ice cubes as they melt.” It was the most logical argument I could devise on such short notice.

“Ice...so....bright...so...hard...to...look...at,” Todd muttered softly as he accepted the premise I had presented him. “Want...to...keep...looking...but...so...bright...so...tired,” Todd continued softly as he forced his eyes open yet again.

“The longer you look at the ice cubes, the deeper you go and the better you feel,” I urged him as I kept up the stream of suggestions. “And the better you feel, the stronger the urge to keep on looking at the ice cubes. It’s all that you care about right now. Looking at the slowly melting ice cubes, so that you can continue to keep on going down deeper and deeper. Feeling more and more relaxed, comfortable, safe and secure.”

“Keep...looking...yes....deeper...yes...safe...secure,” Todd said with a sigh of contentment. Todd’s eyes continued to open and close slowly as his head bobbed up and down slowly, to some silent rhythm of it’s own.

“Down deeper and deeper and deeper,” I insisted, adding only a hint of authority to the smooth tone of my voice. “For the deeper you go, the better you feel, and the better you feel the deeper you go. Always going deeper, always feeling better.”

“Eyes...so....heavy,” Todd breathed as he continued his efforts to keep his eyes open. “Ice...bright...eyes....heavy.” He was having trouble forming sentences, or so it seemed. Only disjointed words tumbled out of his mouth as if his mind were slowing down like a spring unwinding.

“Deeper and deeper, Todd, with each word that I utter and with each breath that you take,” I said to him, as I piled on even more suggestions. I sat back and watched events unfold. Todd’s eyes opened and closed more and more slowly as the minutes passed by. I heard him sigh several times. His mouth opened and closed slowly several times, reminding me of a fish breathing under water. It appeared as if he were trying to speak, but no sound emerged. Speaking seemed to entail too much of an effort for him now. His face was completely blank now, totally devoid of expression. His face was like a clean slate, and yet, he also looked at peace, as if he hadn’t a care in the world. The aura of total calm and peacefulness that seemed to surround him almost made me envy Todd.

Todd’s eyes closed heavily and his head slowly nodded down until his chin was touching his chest. “This is it!” I thought gleefully. Much to my surprise, nothing more happened for about a minute or so. Very slowly Todd’s head started to rise back up. It was a deliberate and measured movement. His head rose until it was at the normal height, but his eyes remained closed. I looked closely and could see his eyelids jerk sharply as he tried to open them. He slowly inhaled, and held his breath for a moment, as he continued trying to open his eyes. A slight whooshing sound accompanied his sudden exhale, as his face and his body relaxed completely. Only a few seconds later Todd’s body started to slowly slide out of the chair he was sitting in. This was what I had been waiting for. My enjoyment of the sight was helped by the fact that Todd’s double breasted suit jacket was still buttoned, as this cause the front panels of the suit jacket to part in an inverted ‘V’ exposing more of the front of his suit pants to my eager gaze.

It was as if every skeletal muscle in Todd’s body has turned to putty. Once he started to slide out of the chair he didn’t stop. He slowly pushed his pelvis down and towards the front edge of the cushion of the chair, while at the same time he began to slouch lower and lower into the back of the chair. It was wonderful, and more than slightly erotic to see this older but still handsome man, thrusting his crotch and hips towards me while his head dropped lower and lower. At the same time his legs were folding on themselves, just like when a man swats down. I was a bit surprised to see that, as I had expected his legs to stretch out in front of Todd as the muscles in his body relaxed even more. It took me only a moment or so to realize that the reason for his legs folding on themselves was because he was trying to keep his feet flat on the floor as he relaxed even more. It was a most interesting and unexpected development. I wondered how he would resolve the difficulty he would soon encounter. Todd’s arms remained in about the same position, except that his elbows were being pressed into the heavily padded armrests of the chair. Todd was using his arm and elbows to push himself down and out of the chair, even if he didn’t realize it. A person can’t actually slide out of a chair unless it has a hard back and bottom, and that person relaxes completely. This living room chair was heavily stuffed so when you sat in this chair you were surrounded by soft comfy padding, which made slipping out of the chair an impossibility.

Todd slid (actually he pushed himself) down and out of the chair a bit farther until his legs were bent at the knee, as far as they would go. His pelvis was jutting out just over the edged of the front of the chair cushion, and his suit pants were pushed up tight against his thighs and crotch. The lower front edge of his suit jacket had started to ride up a bit, as Todd slid down into the chair, exposing the front of Todd’s pants to my avid gaze. It was a forgone conclusion that the back of Todd’s suit jacket would be riding up even more, thus exposing Todd’s backside. It was almost a pity that I couldn’t see that wonderful sight, but the night was still young. Events might unfold to resolve that unfortunate shortcoming. Todd struggled for a few seconds as he tried to continue his slid down the chair, but try as he might he could go no further. The problem perplexed him for a few seconds as he tried to arrive at a solution, his brow wrinkled in thought. He let out a loud and deep sigh as he wiggled about a bit. I flicked my eyes down towards his legs as a sudden moment in that general direction caught my attention.

Todd shifted his weight to his left buttock as he turned to his left side, while at the same time he unbent his right leg and slowly stretched it out directly in front of him. He let out a loud sigh of relief, even as he shifted his weight to his right buttock. It took him only a few seconds to unfold his left leg and stretch it out in front of him, placing it next to his right leg. Another deep and loud sigh of relief erupted from his mouth, as the dull and blank expression returned to his face. Seconds later Todd’s body continued it’s interrupted journey out of the overstuffed chair he was sitting in. His butt teetered on the edge of the front of cushion for a second or two before it continued its slide down towards the carpeted floor. Todd’s legs folded up and pressed against his chest as his torso coasted down the front of the chair. His arms though trailed behind and above his body. His arms almost appeared to be caught on something as they were pulled up higher and higher as Todd’s torso continued its toboggan run to the floor. This of course, caused Todd’s suit jacket to ride up higher and higher on his chest. This delighted me, since it exposed the entire front of Todd’s pants and the stomach area above his waist. I was mildly surprised to see that Todd was wearing suspenders instead of a belt. When his butt plopped on to the carpeted floor he left out a soft grunt as if the contact of his butt with the floor was unexpected.

I looked up at Todd’s face, just in time to see his head drop down as he rested his chin on his chest. Todd slouched down as he leaned back on the front of the chair. His arms were still hung up and behind him, but he didn’t seem to mind it, any more than he minded having his legs curled up and pressed against his chest. Personally I thought the position he was in looked rather uncomfortable. Todd sat there for a few seconds as if he were resting. Todd was a good looking, middle aged man, so I didn’t mind waiting to see what was going to happen next. He took a deep breath, his chest rising slowly and easily, without the slightest hint of tension or discomfort. (I guess I was wrong about his position being uncomfortable.) He held his breath for a half a heartbeat and then expelled the air out of his lungs with a loud whoosh. He pushed his feet out and away from his body, unfolding his legs in the process, in a quick and smooth movement. (I knew that had to feel a bit better for him. Having his knees pressed up against his chest had to have been inconvenient, to say the least.) As I watched his legs stretch out in front of him I noticed that they were angled away from each other slightly. Todd let out a soft ‘ah’ of pleasure (and maybe relief too), as his legs completed their little journey. Another ‘ah’ emerged from Todd’s lips as his legs went completely limp, each leg turning outward slightly, from each other.. This of course, caused Todd’s shoe clad feet to rotate away from each other. Instead of being parallel to each other as they pointed up to the ceiling, Todd’s shoes now pointed away from each other at roughly ninety or one hundred degrees. Unquestionably, Todd’s legs were relaxed and very limp. (I could have tried to verify that by touching his legs, you know, just to be sure, but this wasn’t the time for that sort of thing. Still, the thought was just a little bit tempting.)

Almost as if the thump of his butt on the floor had been a signal, Todd’s arms flopped down to his sides, from where his arms had been hanging up and slightly behind him. With a small thud, his hands came to rest on top of his thighs. Todd let out yet another ‘ah’ of pleasure as his hands slid down from his thighs on to the carpeted floor. His arms dangled loosely from his shoulders, like two very big overcooked pieces of spaghetti. His head, which had been resting comfortably on his chest dipped down even lower as Todd started to topple forward. It seemed as if Todd’s head had become too heavy for him to hold up any longer. I watched with sweet satisfaction as Todd’s torso continued to fall forward in slow motion. (Oh to have had a camera just then! Something, so that I could have recorded that moment!) As his torso toppled forward, it started to tilt to the right. I watched in utter fascination as Todd’s body keeled over onto his right side. His right shoulder hit the carpeted floor with a muffled thud, followed a half a second later with the much softer sound of his head hitting the floor. Todd lay there in front of the living room chair, in a crumpled heap, lying on his right side. If it were not for the satisfied smile on his face, I might have thought that Todd had collapsed due to illness or for some other reason. As it was, I was fairly certain that Todd was very deeply hypnotized.

“What have you done?” Andy asked me in a quiet whisper.

“Not now, Andy,” I shushed him, waving him to be silent. “I have work to do.”

I carefully placed the glass I was still holding on the living room table, as I slowly stood up. I quickly made my way over to where Todd lay in front of the living room chair. I place my finger onto Todd’s forehead and sent out my most delicate mental probe. I couldn’t help but smile as I discovered that Todd’s shields were completely nonexistent. I scanned his mind deeper and deeper looking for any of the signs that he was gifted. I found nothing. His shield appeared to have been one of the natural ones that negative emotions can generate. In Todd’s case, his natural mistrust of other people served to create an effective shield. It wasn’t an exceptionally powerful shield, but it was effective. It was gone now, though. Todd’s mind was completely open to me. I hesitated for a few seconds. A part of me did not want to do what I knew had to be done.

Mental scanning, or telepathy as it is sometime referred to, was a much faster form of communication than speaking. My particular brand of telepathy was limited to physical contact. If I was not in physical contact with a person I could not read their minds. Oh, I could control people from a distance, and give them commands, but in order to do that I have to had made direct eye contact. I don’t know why my super hypnosis power worked this way, it just did. I didn’t make the rules, I just abided by them. I could make a person follow my verbal commands, once I’d achieved that first second or two of eye contact. A second or two is all I needed to implant my mental controls. Mental scanning, though, that required physical contact.

A long time ago, I heard someone say, or maybe I read it in a book somewhere, the phrase “A man’s mind is his last refuge of privacy.” My telepathy removed this refuge, and that is why I was often hesitant about scanning another person’s mind. A simple surface scan was one thing, but a deep probing scan was another. A surface scan could detect emotions and indicate if someone was lying. A deep mental probe was completely different. When I scanned a person deeply enough, it was like reading a book with a very comprehensive index and table of contents. I could quickly locate any information that I wanted. There were no secrets, if I pushed my probes deeply enough. Of course if the person in question had the same gift as I did, they could shield their minds and their secrets, for a while anyway. Every person has their own secrets that they keep hidden down in the deep dark recesses of their minds. It was always unsettling to say the least, coming across these secret thoughts. This was one of the reasons why I don’t like deeply scanning someone’s mind. The other reason was somewhat more personal. I considered this aspect of my powers to be a form of mental rape. It made me uncomfortable to violate another person’s secrets, whatever the reason. Even blackmail.

I paused for a moment or two as I considered the options open to me. The first option was to not scan Todd’s mind any further, and to not implant any controls into his mind. This would not be of much help to me or Andy. We would be right back to where we were before I’d started the induction. Andy would be left to make a choice between the publication of those photographs, or changing his testimony (lying in court). I didn’t much like that option for reasons too numerous to mention. The second option was to continue on with the deep scan of Todd’s mind in an attempt to retrieve enough information to discover a way out of this nightmare. This meant that I would have to swallow my pride and bend my precious ethics a bit. There was a part of me that actually enjoyed the snooping around in another person’s mind, that a deep scan provides. I didn’t like facing that dark part of my soul In actual fact, I feared it. But that was the choice facing me. Do nothing, or dip into that dark black part of my soul. Tough choice!

I took a deep breath and steeled myself for the unpleasant task I was about to undertake. I kept my mental probe focused on obtaining information about the blackmail phonographs that Todd had acquired. I didn’t need to know the reasons for the blackmail. All I was looking for was information to help me find a way out of this situation. At least that is what I kept telling myself as I sorted through Todd’s mind. I kept having to drag my mental nose out of things that were not related to Andy and this evening’s blackmail attempt. Finally, after several long minutes of searching I managed to piece together the story. It made my skin craw. (Even thinking about it now, makes my skin crawl.) Before I stood up and broke my mental connection with Todd, I implanted a few simple but very powerful commands and controls. First and foremost was that Todd would obey me completely whenever I hypnotized him. He would agree to and enjoy anything and everything that I had him do while he was hypnotized. (Yes, that left a very broad spectrum command, but I needed to keep as many of my options open as I could. I was not sure exactly how this evening was going to turn out.) Second, whenever he heard me say the trigger phrase “catfish in a suit”, he would return to this deep state of hypnosis and obedience. Third, when he was not hypnotized he would be himself in every respect. As for his memory of this session and any future sessions, I would adjust his memories as necessary. I had that ability, and I fully intended to use it.

“Todd, pick yourself up off of the floor and straighten your suit,” I directed him as I stood up and stepped away from him. Todd open his eyes and jumped up from the floor as if he had been shot out of a cannon. Quickly he looked down at himself and began pulling his suit jacket down around his pants. It took him only a few seconds to fix his suit jacket and to check that his tie was still tucked inside of his suit jacket. He looked over at me, but did not say anything.

“That’s better, Todd,” I complimented him. He beamed with pride at a job well done. “Now, sit down in the chair, close your eyes and relax. Remain that way, relaxed, comfortable and at peace until I call for you.”

Todd turned to his left to find the chair that he had been sitting in. Once he located it, he walked over to it and sat down promptly. As soon as he was sitting comfortably with his hands resting in his lap, his body wilted like some water starved plant in the hot noon day sun. His eyes closed and his head dropped down as he followed my instructions. I knew that I didn’t have to concern myself with Todd for the next little while. I turned away from him and looked over at Andy.

Andy had not moved an inch since I’d started the induction. Andy’s face was calm. No, stony would be a better word. It was clear that he wasn’t pleased at what I had just done. This wasn’t the place to talk about it though. I walked over to where he was standing and taking him by the arm, I lead Andy into the kitchen. It was far enough away that if we talked quietly, we’d have all the privacy we’d need. We had a lot to talk about.