Be Careful What You Wish For

All the characters depicted in this story are 18 years old or older.

*

In hind sight Dave figured the Bar-B-Q / Pool Party at John and Ingrid's was probably the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak.

In fact it was just the last in a series of minor transgressions, none of which he felt were hanging offences. But apparently his wife Marion felt differently.

They had been married for almost six years now and Dave thought they were getting along pretty well considering all the stresses of his new job and relocating and all.

If he happened to find another woman attractive he couldn't help checking her out. But it seemed Marion had some kind of 'built in' radar about that kind of thing and anytime he looked twice at another woman when he was with her you can be sure she was on his case about it.

'Did he have to ogle every woman that went by?...Was he going to be an oversexed teenager forever?...Did he not realize how demeaning it was to objectify every woman he saw like she was a piece of meat?...Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...'

And if he happened to have said something a couple of times about how there were other ways to make love besides her lying lifeless on her back, sneaking peeks at the ten o'clock news while he toiled away between her thighs, well that was just him being totally insensitive all over again.

In fact Marion was an extremely attractive woman. In college she had been a cheerleader as well as having a 3.8 grade average. She had a great body, big chest, narrow waist and a heart shaped ass to die for. She was always getting asked out. But Dave was the one she had her sights set on. And six months after they graduated they were married. During that time Dave was surprised to find that someone who looked so sexy could be so prim and proper. He thought she had just been putting on that 'I don't think a girl should give up her virginity too soon' thing to land herself a husband. It was only after they'd been married for a year that he realized that, though he thought he was marrying Miss 'Hottie', who he really got was Miss 'Don't! I don't like that!', or Miss 'Stop it. You're messing up my hair!'

Two years ago they had moved from Portland to San Francisco when Dave landed a good job with an international shipping company. But since they had settled into the City by the Bay the romance seemed to have disappeared from their marriage.

Their lovemaking got more and more infrequent and Dave would have been lying if he didn't admit that he was getting more than a little sick of the missionary position. It hadn't helped matters when Marion asked him if he ever fantasized about other women and her admitted that he sometimes did. He wished he could take that one back.

Then there was the Pool Party. John and Ingrid had been there neighbors since they arrived in their new home. They were the same age as Dave and Marion and had similar interests so it wasn't surprising that they soon became friends.

It was great to have good neighbors. The one down side, if you could call it that, was that Ingrid happened to be a gorgeous blonde with an incredible body. She was definitely a consistent target of Dave's leering glances.

The night of the Pool Party there were probably thirty people there enjoying the burgers and wine and beer. It was a warm evening and after the sun set more and more people put on swimsuits and started fooling around in the pool and in the hot tub.

Ingrid put on a tiny white bikini that would have been illegal in some mid-western states. All the guys were tagging her with their eyes, Dave as much as anyone. At one point late in the evening she slipped into the hot tub. By that time Dave had his swimsuit on and she beckoned him to join her in the bubbling water.

By then Dave had had enough wine that he stepped down into the steamy water without a second thought.

The next thing he knew Ingrid was pressing warmly against his side, her hand resting high up on his inner thigh.

Dave wasn't really paying much attention to what she was saying. It was taking all his concentration to keep from turning towards her and hunching up against her thigh like at dog in heat.

He did hear her clearly however when she whispered something in his ear like...'John and I wondered if you and Marion might ever have thought about swapping, with us...just for an evening...just for fun?'

Dave was so overwhelmed by this proposal that he totally lost his cool. He stammered something about how...' it sounded great but that he didn't know if Marion would be comfortable doing something like that. But he would ask her if he could find the right moment and he was really honoured that she and John were that comfortable with them etc., etc.' God! Had he really said 'honoured!'

Ingrid listened to his nervous stammering and smiled indulgently. Finally she said with a breezy wave of her hand...'Well, just think about it..."

And then she gracefully got up and left the hot tub. Dave watched her go with his mouth open in amazement.

Later that night as they were going to bed, Marion was complaining about being dog-tired and how dreadful the Watson's had been and what a headache she had. Dave picked that moment to mention that someone at the party, he didn't want to say who, had wondered if they might want to swap with them.

Marion, who had just sat down on the side of the bed with her back to Dave, went rigid and didn't say anything.

Dave wasn't too encouraged by this initial response but he plowed on.

These were friends who they were both quite comfortable with and he knew it was a 'kind of out there' suggestion but maybe it was worth considering.

Marion continued to say nothing but Dave could feel the temperature dropping dramatically in the room.

Then, in a very steady voice Marion said..."And I take it that if this...this suggestion is alright with me that you are in favour of this...this... of doing this?..."

And Dave said 'well of course he didn't want her to do anything she was uncomfortable with but if she felt she was ready for a bit of an adventure then he figured he could be up for it too.'

And that was when the shit really hit the fan.

What kind of a deviant was he? Didn't he have any idea how depraved, how immoral his suggestion was. This was probably all his idea wasn't it? Not some phantom friend of theirs. She couldn't believe the shameful depths of his imagination. And on, and on, and on.

And so it was that when Marion suggested that they go to couples counselling he ultimately agreed.

Oh his knee jerk reaction was 'No Way! There's nothing wrong with me.'

Which only made his wife more adamant that they should go. And when Dave thought about it, he figured that if maybe some shrink told Marion she should loosen up a little, maybe things might get a little more interesting around the bedroom.

So in the end he agreed. Marion had a therapist in mind that had been recommended to her by one of her gym buddies. Dave was fine with whatever she wanted.

So Marion made the first visit. She went by herself, which was what the therapist recommended. It was a two-hour session and when Dave got home from work that night he definitely noticed a change in his wife.

She seemed to be kind of glowing like she had experienced some kind of revelation. When Dave asked her how the therapy went she told him the doctor, Dr. Von Stramm, had told her not to discuss her treatment with him. Dave thought that was kind of odd but didn't pursue it.

Later that night when he snuggled up to Marion she immediately pulled away from him.

"Don't!..." she said firmly.

"We'll wait until after you been to the clinic."

Well Dave's first appointment was only two days away so he figured he could wait.

Two days later he arrived at the office of Dr. Elsa Von Stramm fifteen minutes early. He had been asked to come early to fill out the paper work. And there was a lot of it. There were also a lot of extremely personal questions that Dave wasn't all that comfortable answering.

After that he was ushered in to meet the good doctor. He didn't know what he'd been expecting but he was pleasantly surprised that Elsa (which is what she soon asked him to call her) wasn't at all the frumpy, overweight, middle-aged academic that he had been expecting.

In fact Dr. Elsa was almost alarmingly attractive. Even in a white lab coat and a pair of linen trousers it was obvious that she had a very shapely body. Her blonde hair was pulled up and coiled behind her head. She had an engaging smile and a very down to earth way of speaking. Dave didn't think he was going to have any trouble talking to her.

"Mr. Brickman? I'm Dr. Von Stramm."

"Dave doctor. Please call me Dave."

"Very well, Dave."

She rambled on a bit at the beginning about how the clinic's approach to couple's counselling was a little more 'Alternative', a little more 'Hands On' than he might expect. 'Was he alright with that?'

Dave said 'Sure. It was all about results as far as he was concerned.'

Dr. Von Stramm seemed pleased. She said in that case they would begin. Would he please go into the next office and remove all his clothes including his shorts and socks and put on the smock and trousers that were laid out for him there. They would be in with him in a few moments.

Dave said fine although he was a little surprised he had to change out of his street clothes. But in fact he had noticed when he came in that this place seemed more like a spa than a clinic. There were lots of staff dressed up in white shirts and pants and other people, patients, clients he guessed, coming and going in smocks and robes and slippers.

He guessed it all had to do with the 'Alternative' treatments.

He went into the next office, which basically contained a little desk to one side with a couple of hard chairs in front of it. There was a couch on the wall on the other side of the room and what looked like a massage table in the middle of the room. On that table was his change of clothes.

David took off everything he was wearing and put on what was on the table. That pants were light cotton with a drawstring closure and fit him very loosely. The top was of the standard issue hospital variety that you put on with the opening in the back and tied with a little string behind the neck. There was also a pair of those 'one size fits all' paper slippers that Dave put on as well.

He had just folded his arms across his chest because he was finding it kind of breezy in the little office when the door opened and a dark haired woman walked in. A cloud of a very exotic perfume accompanied her.

It didn't take Dave more than a moment to realize that this was indeed another attractive young woman. Even the dark rimmed glasses she was wearing didn't detract from her obvious good looks.

"Hi. Dave? I'm Abigail..." the dark haired beauty said, holding out her hand to Dave. She was holding a large canvas bag in her other hand.

Dave shook Abigail's extended hand and was surprised by the strength of her grip.

"Hello Abigail. I'm the new guy. I'm just waiting for instructions I guess."

Abigail smiled and looked at Dave appraisingly. Dave was doing his own share of looking too.

Abigail was wearing a white spandex top that accentuated her fully rounded breasts. Beneath that she was wearing what looked like snug fitting riding breeches, also white, and a glossy black belt cinched tightly around her waist. She wasn't wearing boots but she was wearing some black stacked heels that made her almost as tall as Dave. All she was missing was the little hat and the riding crop and she could have been on her way to the stables.

"Well maybe I can help you with that. Elsa explained to you that what we do here involves a certain physicality did she not?"

"She said something about the treatment being 'hands on' although I wasn't totally clear about that."

"Well you're about to find out..." Abigail said, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

And with that she reached into her satchel and pulled out a heavy leather belt, kind of like a lineman's belt.

She took that over to Dave and, standing behind him she wrapped it around him and fastened the buckle so that it was snug around his waist.

Dave found that she was standing disconcertingly close to him. He could distinctly feel the pressure of her conical tits jutting into his back between his shoulder blades as she fiddled with the belt.

He was so distracted by the feel of those resilient mounds rubbing against him that he didn't notice it when she fastened his wrists to his sides with the padded cuffs that were part of the belt.

"Hey what the?..." Dave said in surprise as Abigail pulled an aluminum bar out of the bag and started to telescope it into a longer length.

Just at that moment Dr. Von Stramm came into the room and took in the scene before her.

"Just the hand restraints today I think..." she said as she strode across the room to sit behind the little desk.

"Yes, of course Elsa..." Abigail replied. She immediately began to collapse the aluminum pole with, what David thought appeared to be, a rueful expression.

"David. Today I think we will look at a portion of your wife's therapy session from the other day. Don't worry about the restraint. You'll understand what that's all about in due course."

"A short synopsis would be in order. I decided to start your wife on a course of hypnotherapy. It has proven very effective in many cases."

"You hypnotized her?..." Dave asked, a crooked little smile curling his lips.

Elsa smiled at him indulgently.

"Hypnotism is not for everyone, that's true. But people who have deeply repressed emotions need to come to grips with the root of these issues. I decided that Marion might benefit from revisiting some of her past experiences with more of a, shall we say, open minded perspective. I think you'll find the result very interesting.'

And with that she nodded at Abigail who dimmed the lights and then pressed a button on a remote she had picked up. There was an overhead projector mounted in the ceiling that came to life.

A picture started on the bare wall above the couch opposite Elsa's desk. It wasn't very clear. The room , which he realized was this same room, must have been dim where the video was being taken.

No one offered David a chair or asked him to sit down. So he just leaned against the massage table to watch the images on the wall, his hands tied to his sides.

The doctor could be heard talking in a calm measured cadence in the background.

Marion was sitting opposite her in one of the chairs. She was wearing just a light cotton shift that didn't quite reach her knees. It looked like it was very sheer but it was hard to tell in the dimly lit room.

There was a round white light about the size and shape of a Frisbee mounted on the wall behind the doctor at just about shoulder height. That light was pulsing slowly brighter, then fading, then brightening in a tempo like a very slow heart beat.

Dave noticed that Marion looked very relaxed sitting in the chair. She seemed to be having trouble keeping her eyes open.

Suddenly Dr. Elsa could be heard more clearly.

"Now try and lift up your left arm Marion..."

There was a pause and then Marion said very quietly..." I can't..."

"That's fine Marion. Just relax. Now I want you to think about the thrill of your first toboggan ride, the exhilaration of your first kiss, the satisfaction of creating a fabulous meal for your husband. Do you remember those feelings?"

"Yes doctor."

"That's good dear. Now I'm going to give you a couple of suggestions. When you hear the word 'aeons' you will enter the kind of relaxed state that you are in right now. You will think about all those good feelings we were just talking about. You will want to feel like that again. And you won't let your inhibitions overwhelm you like you usually do. Instead you will just enjoy the moment. When you hear the word 'hectic' you will return to your normal manner. You will remember everything that happened while you were in this altered state. But it will be like you're remembering a dream. Whatever happened will only be vaguely clear to you but not totally forgotten. Do you understand me dear?.."

"Yes I do..."

"Well, it's been a very hectic week hasn't it?..." said Elsa. And at that point the pulsing light went off behind her and the lights came up in the room.

Dave watched Marion closely.

His wife sat there quite still for a moment and then she said...

"Excuse me? I seem to have got lost in our conversation for a moment?..."

The doctor smiled and went on to answer her when Dave turned to the actual Dr. Von Stramm and piped in..."You don't really think she's going to fall for this. She's not an idiot you know?..."

"I take it then that you don't think you'd be a good candidate for hypnotherapy treatment. I assume you don't feel that you're an idiot either?..."

But before Dave could answer she went on...

"Mr. Brickman. A subject who responds to hypnotic suggestion cannot be made to do anything that they regard as immoral or illegal. In other words you couldn't hypnotize someone and then get them to rob a bank or kidnap someone. They will not do something that is outside their ethical comfort zone. However some people, some very introverted people, can behave quite differently than they would have if they were not in an abstract state. If you will just be patient a little longer I think you will see what I mean.

Dave returned his attention to the picture on the wall. At that moment the door to the interview room opened and two young men walked in. They both were wearing black tee shirts, loose fitting white cotton pants and sneakers. They obviously we're employees of the center.

Marion looked at the new arrivals blankly. Her shoulders stiffened at the interruption

Dr. Von Stramm smiled at her and said...

"Marion. You remember your old first year boyfriend Tommy Deere. You probably haven't seen him in aeons."

Dave was amazed to see his wife's shoulders visibly relax as she stood up with obvious excitement. She crossed the room and threw her arms around the young man's neck.

"Tommy! It's so good to see you! What a surprise."

Then to her husband's surprise she planted a wet kiss on the young man's mouth. It was really quick but still Dave hadn't seen that kind of enthusiasm from his wife in a long time.

Tommy said..." It's good to see you too Marion. You look great!..."

As he was speaking the young man's hand came up so that it was plainly cupping the outside of one of Marion's breasts. Dave was astounded that his wife made no effort to move it away.

"And you remember Andy,Tommy's cousin. I think he went with you on one of your first dates didn't he? To the Drive-In wasn't it? That must have been cosy...." Elsa said.

"Hi Andy. I think I do remember that night..." Marion said with an attractive blush.

"Well why don't I just let you guys have a few minutes alone to catch up. I have a couple of calls to make anyways. I'll be back in a little while."

And as she went out the door Dr. Von Stramm dimmed the lights in the room once more.

Dave couldn't help but ask...

"That's not really her old boy friend is it? It couldn't be."

"Of course not. Those are two of our valuable interns."

Just then Tommy was stepping back and saying..."You know Marion, I often think about that night and kick myself because I was so shy way back then. You probably don't really remember it. I wish we could do it all over again. Would you?...If we could?..."

Dave was aghast to see his wife step up to Tommy, put her hand on his chest and say in a very suggestive murmur...

"Oh Tommy!.. I'd do anything you want me to, you know that!"

"Geez Marion. I was hoping you'd say that. This is going to be great. Remember how we had to go in Andy's mother's car. That beat up old Chevy with the huge bench seats. That was just perfect wasn't it?"