THE MULE
Chapter 5
‘Mind control experiments?’
Tina had a slight look of surprise on her face.
‘Getting cold feet already?’ She smiled. ‘I told you there some variation to the ethics involved.’
‘No.’ I answered. ‘Just curious.’
‘Or suspicious.’ She grinned. ‘But that’s the side of you that’s going to the most valuable to our work-the fact that you won’t let something go, until you’ve nutted out everything you can about it. Am I right?’
She was right. I just grinned and took in her natural red-haired beauty. She was a flaming redhead if ever I’d seen one, but would she make a good slave?
‘We are all redheads in my family-brothers and sisters alike. There are four of us-two boys and two girls. ’ She said, somehow reading my mind.
All I could do was grin and wonder how she did it. Maybe it was a natural knack? Then again, maybe it wasn’t? I wondered if she was married. I hadn’t noticed any rings on her fingers.
‘Once-for a long time.’ She said, her eyes moistening.
I sat up in my chair, alarm bells going off everywhere in my head at once. Now I was suspicious beyond a doubt. Tina had just read my mind. She burst out laughing. It must have been the look of incredulity on my face.
‘Peter.’ She laughed. ‘There is a lot you know about hypnosis. And there is a lot you have yet to know. Do you want to learn?’
My head must have nodded unconsciously. I know I didn’t consciously think about doing it. She stopped laughing and quieted. Then her face became a little more serious.
‘Listen.’ She said, leaning forward in her chair a little. ‘Just allow everything to happen naturally, exactly as it wants to. Don’t try to make anything happen. And don’t try to stop anything from happening. Okay?’
The hypnotic phraseology was not unfamiliar to me. I use it myself all the time. She was using it as an analogy and as advice. I took a deep breath and sighed loudly.
‘Okay.’ I answered. ‘Should I shroud my thoughts since you seem to be able to read my mind?’
She laughed that belly laugh again.
‘I can’t read your thoughts whenever I want to.’ She stated. ‘Only when they directly concern me and you project them.’
I grinned. ‘I’d better keep them in line then.’
‘If you want to keep them from me.’ She said simply. ‘Now come on. Time to meet a few people-well, not a few actually-everyone. They’re waiting for us.’
With that we both stood up and I found myself following her like a puppy dog again. This was getting to be a habit, I thought, as I pictured myself with a dog collar around my neck and Tina leading me along with a leash. I’d no sooner had the thought, when Tina burst out into hilarious laughter, such that she had to stop walking. When she settled there were tears-stains on her cheeks she had laughed so hard. Then she looked at me, still stifling her mirth.
‘Woof, woof.’ Was all she said, and then I realised what she had laughed at. ‘Let’s go.’ She repeated. Again I followed and again she burst into laughter. Jesus. Am I slow or what? I followed obediently the laughing woman who walked ahead of me.
The meeting with everyone in the very long boardroom took about a half an hour, consisting of mainly introductions from men and women who appeared to me as if they’d rather be anywhere else than right there at the time-home in bed, more likely, for most of them. They all looked tired. They were friendly enough, except for the director. He was serious and his name was Derek. He was the project co-ordinator for all of them. I felt he was studying me the whole time.
When it was over Tina and I left the room, or should I say, she left and I followed again. Outside the door she stopped and turned, closing the door and looking at me.
‘Well? What do you think?’ She asked as she turned and began to walk back toward my office.
‘They all look like they need a good night’s sleep.’ I said honestly.
‘Yes.’ She relied flatly. ‘I feel like that at times. But none of us would trade our jobs for all the tea in China. And neither will you, once you become involved in it.’
I said nothing as I followed her down the hallway and into my office. Nice ass, I thought as she opened the door and stood aside for me to enter.
‘So is yours.’ She grinned as I walked past her and inside.
Jesus.
She was smiling as she turned around after closing the door behind her. We walked over to my desk. Tina sat down opposite me, still smiling.
‘We’ve got to sort something out about you reading every thought I have.’ I smiled at her. ‘Sooner or later I’m going to really stuff up.’
She belly-laughed again. It was almost a sensual laughter, seemingly coming from the pit of her stomach, but in a very relaxed fashion.
‘I like to laugh. ’ She read my mind again. ‘It’s good for the soul.’
‘Jesus!’ I said out loud, exasperated with myself.
Tina laughed again. When she’d settled I asked what I wanted to ask.
‘Are you a natural mind-reader, or did you learn it in here?’
‘I was taught it in here, by… by a man who… no longer here.’ She answered a little strangely. ‘But, once you get the hang of it, and you understand what you’re trying to do, it becomes second nature.’
‘Must come in handy at times.’ I mused. ‘Can everybody here do it?’
‘No.’ She replied. ‘But not everybody needs to, or even knows about it-only selected people. You are one who has been chosen to be told and then taught, or I wouldn’t have given you an insight into it in the first place. I’m just wetting your appetite. There’s more exciting things than mind reading you’ve yet to discover. And much more than that again in your work here with us I hope.’
I just sat and looked at her-stared at her would be more correct. I’d never had a redhead in my life that I could remember, although I’d always wondered if they were as red between the legs as they were on their head. Tina, the double redheaded slave, I imagined in living colour. Then, as I was looking at her she blushed a scarlet crimson, which was very noticeable on her pale, smooth skin.
‘Yes.’ She said softly. ‘We are.’
‘Jesus!’ I twigged instantly. ‘I’m sorry! I’m just not used to watching every natural thought I have about people.’
‘That’s okay.’ She smiled at me sincerely. ‘I must admit it’s fun.’ Then she added quickly as an afterthought. ‘Most of the time.’
‘Do you use any drugs with the patients?’ I asked, changing the subject away from her reading my mind. I could see it caught her a little by surprise.
‘No. Everything is natural. No drugs whatsoever.’ She answered. ‘What you have to do now is to take home that dossier and go through it carefully. Then you have to select a field, or suggest one to us for authorisation if none in there takes your special interest. Then you can start work on it. Reports are required daily as I’ve already told you, as well as the Videotapes of each patient you work with. I forgot to tell you there’s a hidden camera in the tape deck. I’ll show you how to use it another time.’
She sat back and let her gaze wander idly around the room. Then her face suddenly became serious as her eyes settled squarely back on me. She leaned forward again, resting her hands on the top of my desk.
‘Peter, the work we do here is very serious. Each one of us feels particularly proud to have been selected and given the opportunity to conduct our research, and be paid well for it at the same time. We work hard here, but we also play hard, as you’ll see. Weekends are for recreation and not work of any kind. Nobody wants to burn out. The work is just too important. We all meet one Sunday each month, if we want to mix. It’s like a big, extended family. I love it. But I love the work more.’
I just sat and listened to the sincerity in her voice. She spoke with her heart. It was hard for me not to warm to her personality. I didn’t think I’d ever met anyone quite like her. She suddenly smiled a soft smile at me, and then I remembered.
‘Jesus.’ I sighed tiredly. ‘I’ll never learn.’
‘Thank you for the compliment.’ She said quietly. ‘I don’t get too many of them along those lines.’
And with that she stood up and turned to leave.
‘ Tina?’
‘Yes. ’ She answered, turning back to face me.
‘What is your project area?’
‘You’ll find out soon enough.’ She replied, lowering her eyes a little as she said it.
‘Don’t forget the dossier. I’ll walk you back down to the car. It’s waiting to take you back to your office. I’ve got to attend the daily report meeting. I’ll call you tomorrow to see if you’ve any questions on what you’ve seen or read so far. And also if you’ve got a feeling for any particular project. Remember, it can be a suggestion of yours.’
‘Are there any limiting guidelines?’ I asked.
‘No. Only your imagination.’ She replied. ‘And the objective must have a benefit for someone, or something, somewhere.’
‘Okay.’ I said, then rose to follow her out of the office and down to the outside of the nondescript building that was going to be my new home for the next so many weeks, months or years.
As the big limo pulled up to a gentle halt in front of me Tina turned and looked me squarely in the eye.
‘I hope you like it here, Peter. We’ve all got high hopes for your work, whatever it turns out to be.’
I gazed into the depths of those deep eyes, thinking nothing about her sexuality whatsoever. She smiled.
‘You’re learning.’ She grinned.
‘I intend to.’ I countered. ‘Then watch out.’
She smiled as the door cracked open by itself. I slid into the comfortable leather interior and waved as the white chariot pulled away from the curb. Chemistry is chemistry, I thought as I imagined vividly Tina’s naked body with its flaming red hair top and bottom clearly in my mind’s eye-so clearly in fact, that I could almost reach out and touch her. I don’t think I’d ever had an image that seemed so real and lifelike.
I settled back to stare at the reflection of myself in the blackened plate Plexiglas that separated the driver from where I sat letting everything I had seen and heard and thought wash over me. Suddenly I felt drained: tired and very drained. I let my eyes close and just rested for the rest of the drive until I sensed through my foggy mental haze that all motion in any direction had ceased.
I came back to full alertness with the same thought in my fore-mind. Chemistry is chemistry, and, between Tina and I, it existed. It was as simple as that. I stepped out into the afternoon sunshine with the dossier tucked tightly under my left arm and closed the door, watching the large, white limo glide silently off into the distance. I wondered that I had still not seen the driver’s face, but I really didn’t care. I was tired. This had been one hell of a day-one hell of a day indeed.
By midnight that same night I was still wide awake, my mind burning with ideas generated by pouring over the files of research contained in the dossier, as well as projects of my own that I’d always been interested in or played with. I couldn’t believe there were so many fields that hypnosis could be applied to. It was amazing-some of them leaving the ethics of my industry so far behind, so as not to even exist. But nothing I’d read had hinted at anything underhanded where the patient was concerned. Everything seemed to be about finding techniques that worked and that could be replicated by other therapists, over and over again.
I finally closed the dossier at one thirty, had a shower and then fell into bed exhausted. Sleep came to me as I imagined the flaming red hair, top and bottom once again in my mind- of Tina Clark.
I awoke with the same image in my mind and the same thought-chemistry is chemistry. I showered and changed, then began organising my day. I had already chosen another therapist who could take over my existing patients, and he was one I could trust to stick to the publicised ethic of our trade: Do no harm-treat the cause.
A phone call later and that was done. I wanted to clear my slate as quickly as possible for some reason. Maybe I was excited. It happened occasionally. Not often lately, but occasionally. Again I had the image of Tina Clark naked in all her red, flaming glory. I was amazed. I had never had an image linger so long, so strongly, or so vividly in my mind before about anything or anyone. I couldn’t figure it out, and when it came to me I thought I had everything figured out after forty-seven years of trying.
Next was my office-the old one. The landlord and I had always gotten on. I had cured his wife of smoking and a few sexual anxieties caused by her well-meaning mother. As luck would have it there was a chiropractor looking for an office in the area and mine would suit him just fine, the landlord told me. I hung up relieved.
Being let out of the lease agreement had been on my mind since I realised that I was becoming serious about Tina Clark’s offer of employment. I decided to drive down to the old office and clear out my things, send the files of existing patients to their new therapist. The sooner I had a clean slate the better. I couldn’t wait until Monday. In fact, I didn’t want to wait until Monday. And then I remembered.
I took out the envelope containing all the money Tina had given me as my first month’s salary. I had to bank it. With my luck I’d get mugged if I didn’t. I stared at it for a long time before putting it back in the envelope and heading off to do the jobs that needed doing, thinking no further ahead than that.