The Coffee Shop Pt. 04

I schooled my face into an expression of confusion and wonderment as I stood there looking at the three men as they tried to find some relief for their suddenly itchy asses. I was hard pressed not to smile when I saw one of the men start to rub his backside up and down across the upper edge of one of the desks. I looked about and realized that all three men were doing the same thing. Apparently the intensity of the rubbing was providing them with some small iota of relief, since they clearly did not want to stop. They had forgotten about Ted Carson, and everything else it seemed.

Carefully and quickly I made my way back to Ted Carson. I had an opportunity which I was not about to waste. I sat down next to Ted and softly spoke to him.

"Ted, when I count from zero to five, your eyes will open and you will be your normal self in every way. You will once again be in control of yourself, and able to deal with your fears and worries. You will awaken feeling calm, in control and able to face any situation because you have already conquered your fears in your mind," I instructed him. "When you understand this, and accept it, you'll take a deep breath as you feel the increased need for oxygen, letting that breath out in a wonderful deep sigh."

Ted nodded his head once, and inhaled deeply. He held his breath for a moment and let it out in a soft sigh. "Yessssssssss" he hissed softly.

"Zero. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Wide awake! Wide awake!!" I called out to Ted.

Ted raised his head up, as he woke up with a start, blinking his eyes in confusion for a moment. He looked at me and then smiled at me. "I feel great. I don't know what you did, but it worked," he said to me in a calm and serene voice.

I smiled back at him. "I'm glad I was able to help," I said to him. "But our troubles aren't over yet. The bank robbers are still here."

Ted looked around a bit. "Yeah, I see what you mean. At least I'm not walking around with a bag in front of my face anymore." He looked back at me and smiled. He looked almost happy.

We sat there watching the affected men continue to rub their buttocks against the top edge of the desks. It was amusing, but we were smart enough not to laugh or let our feeling show. Ted glanced at me a couple of times, as if asking me what the heck was going on. I shrugged my shoulders in the universal, "I don't know" gesture, and went back to watching these men. They were moving all over the edges of the desks now, back and front. They didn't seem to have anything else on their minds, other than to get their butts to stop itching. All three of these bank robbers were wearing close fitting blue jeans. I didn't have time to take a full inventory of the clothes they were wearing. I concentrated my attention on what I was most interested in, their pants.

Ted tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention. I looked down at him. He opened his mouth as if he were about to speak. He snapped his mouth shut and jerked his head over to the right.

I followed the motion of his head and saw several more members of the gang appear from the bank vault with large bulging sacks. It looked like they had managed to get whatever it was that they were after. They stopped suddenly as they beheld the sight of their accomplices rubbing their butts on the top edges of the desks.

Ted and I watched quietly, doing our best not to draw any attention to ourselves as we walked the spectacle unfold. To judge from the body language, and gestures there were some heated words exchanged. The argument lasted for only a minute or so. Several of the gang members tried to drag one of the affected men (I think it was Seven) away from one of the desks, as the gang tried to leave the bank. Seven wasn't willing to go. He had to be grabbed by two of the gang members and dragged out of the bank, fighting them every inch of the way. He nearly broke free of their grip. It took a third man to held hold Seven's arms behind his back as they goose marched him out of the bank. Meanwhile, the other two affected men stayed by the desks and continued to rub their backsides against the desk tops. Two other men accompanied these two men to watch them and presumably to watch us and the other captives as well.

After a minute or so, when the other gang members did not return to the bank, I began to wonder what had happened. I wasn't given much time to think. One minute the bank was quiet and subdued with all the captives guarded by members of the gang. The next, there were police uniforms, police officers and SWAT members crawling all over the place like ants at a picnic! Things were a blur. No one had any time to react to anything, which was the intention, I'm sure. The police just stormed in and took control of the situation. Ted and I stayed where we were until things finally settled down.

A few minutes later all the captives were being interviewed by the police about what had happened. The interviews did not last long. There wasn't much to tell, when you thought about it. The one thing that no one seemed to be able to explain is why those three members of the gangs had suddenly experienced such fiercely itching backsides. No one could offer any explanation. (Well I could, but I sure as heck wasn't about to! Imagine the fun I would have trying to explain what had happened to the cops. Why I would have to demonstrate my powers to them. More likely I would have to demonstrate my powers on some of them. While I admit that was a tempting idea, yes a very tempting idea, discretion was called for. I dared not open that Pandora's box.) When questioned I kept to the facts, and managed to avoid discussing any of the details regarding how I had helped Ted Carson with his panic attack. There were some good looking police officers in the group, but I didn't have much of a chance to pay much attention to them. Like the other patrons of the bank, I just wanted to get out of there and back to the office.

It was about 3:45 PM when I finally disentangled myself from the police and was permitted to head back to my place of work. As I headed down the street, I felt that old familiar creepy crawly sensation at the back of my head. I stopped. I hadn't felt that feeling in a long time, but I knew what it meant. Trouble. I slowly turned about and looked around to see if I could focus on the source of the potential danger. I looked carefully, but could not see anyone or anything out of the ordinary. There were many police officers and many people from the bank still hanging about in the parking lot in front of the bank building. The bank robbers had been carted off earlier, so it was unlikely that I was getting my warning from them. The feeling started to fade, as I continued looking around. I still could not see anything that looked dangerous.

A man dressed in a black suit was standing about twenty feet from me, with his back to me. There wasn't anything unusual about him, per say, but from the back he did look attractive. The man slowly turned about looking through the crowd, letting his gaze slip across the mixture of people milling about. His eyes came to rest on mine for just the briefest of moments, and I felt my skin crawl, and my forehead got that tingling sensation again, but only briefly. The man looked to be in his early thirties. His face was pleasant looking, and except for his goatee, unremarkable. Yet there was something about him. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something. It was all I could do not to shudder right then and there. The man looked away and continued his visual inspection of the crowd. I watched him for a moment or two longer, but he did not look back at me. He finished his looking about and walked away from me towards another man who was also dressed in a black suit. The two men bent their heads close to each other as they began to converse.

The creepy feeling had let me, so I thought it best to head back to the office. As I walked back to the office I couldn't shake the nagging feeling that I had seen that man in the black suit somewhere before. The black business suit that he had been wearing was unremarkable. It looked like any other suit you might buy from a men's clothing store. He had worn a plain black tie, and a plain white shirt with the suit, and I was pretty sure that his shoes were also black. Still, there was something oddly familiar about him.. Why was it that this man, who was wearing a goatee seemed so familiar? I could not think of what his name might have been, but his face was familiar. I had seen his face somewhere before, I was sure of it, but I just couldn't seem to recall where. I put that on the back burner of my mind as I arrived at the office

It took a while to explain to everyone why I was late getting back from work, and what had happened. There were more than a few raised eyebrows, and several disbelieving looks thrown my way. I calmly told everyone that if they wanted to know more, they should contact the police, after which everyone let the subject drop. The rest of the day at work was uneventful, as was my Thursday at work. The same cannot be said for my Thursday evening.

Andy was working the night shift, so I was on my own for the evening. (Hey, these things happen when you're dating a cop.) Supper was done with, and the television set had been turned off, since evening news broadcast was over. I had just planted myself in the overstuff swivel rocking chair in the living room with a book, and was planning to try and get caught up on my reading, when the door bell rang. I stood up and headed off to the front door to see who it was. I was not expecting any company, so I was mildly curious as to who would be dropping by without calling first. I glanced at the wall clock in the living room on my way to answer the front door, noting that it was about 7:30 PM. I hoped that it wasn't a solicitor of some type. I walked up to the door and peered through the peephole. I didn't recognize the man standing on the other side of the door, but he seemed to be somehow familiar. He didn't look dangerous, and I wasn't picking up any feelings of danger or uneasiness. The man appeared to be dressed in a light coloured business suit. He looked harmless enough. The man rang the doorbell a second time as I unlocked the door, being sure to keep the security chain in place.

"Hello? May I help you?" I asked as the door was cracked open just wide enough for me to speak to this stranger and to see him clearly through the slight opening.

"Mr. Walton?" The man asked, as he looked at me.

"Perhaps," I answered cautiously. "What is your business with Mr. Walton?"

"It has to do with the incident at the bank branch yesterday afternoon," the man answered coolly. "You are Mr. Walton. I recognize you. I wanted to talk to you about what happened at the bank. It's not something that should be talked about here in a hallway. May I please come inside?"

"I suppose so," I answered as I carefully closed the door. I recognized the man now. It was Ted Carson from the bank. I knew I didn't have anything to fear from him. My powers worked on him, and rather well too. I slipped off the security chain and opened the door. "Please come in and make yourself at home, Mr. Carson," I said to him as he stood there on the threshold.

"Oh, I see you do remember me," Ted responded as he stepped into my apartment and walked a few steps towards the living room area. Ted stopped and waited for me as I closed and locked the front door.

"Yes, I remember you," I confirmed. "Why are you here? How did you find out where I live? What can I do for you?" I asked him, as I began to wonder what the heck he was doing here.

"Your address is in the bank records," Ted answered with that same cool demeanor. "I looked up the information. I won't take up much of your time. I came here to ask you a question regarding what happened at the bank Wednesday afternoon."

"I've already told the police everything I saw and heard regarding the attempted robbery," I replied. "Why would you be interested in that? You're not a police officer."

"This has nothing to do with the robbery, Mr. Walton," Ted said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

I couldn't help but notice that the movement was smooth and easy, suggesting confidence and self assurance. It was also a bit sexy too, but only because Ted Carson was one good looking guy. "What then?" I asked perplexed.

"You hypnotized me at the bank, didn't you?" Ted demanded of me as he uncrossed his arms, balled his hands into fits and planted his fits on his hips. The angry look on his face did not bode well for me. Clearly he was upset with me.

I sighed softly to myself. "Another angry young hypnosis subject," I thought to myself. I looked at Ted and wondered why he was so upset. I thought I had helped him. I hadn't made him do anything the least bit silly, outrageous or humiliating. If anything I had stood up for him and protected him from some men who wanted Ted to do exactly that, to make a fool of himself. Some thanks I get for respecting my subjects.

"WELL???" Ted exclaimed when I did not answer his question.

"Yes, I hypnotized you," I admitted. It's obvious that you are upset about that. Might I ask why?"

"Oh, come on!" Ted exclaimed, with more than a touch of exasperation in his voice. "Do I have to draw you a picture? You hypnotized me, without my consent, and in public no less, and you wonder that I have a problem with this? If the police hadn't shown up when they did, there is no telling what you might have had me do!"

"I do not know how much you know about hypnosis, Mr. Carson, but it would appear that you are suffering from a few common misconceptions," I replied keeping my voice calm and controlled. "I would be more than happy to explain a few things about hypnosis and"

"I'm not interested in your explanations!" Ted said as he cut me off. "I came here to do two things. The first was to see if you would admit to having used hypnosis on me. The second was to give you a piece of my mind!"

"Why not?" I thought to myself. "They've split the atom haven't they?" I kept my smart ass comments to myself. They would not help the situation. The easiest course of action would be to listen to Ted. Let him get this off of his chest and have him leave. He was cute, true, but I really wasn't interested in him or in a hypnosis session tonight. Well, that wasn't exactly one hundred percent true. Ted was a cut guy and yes I would have liked to have hypnotized him, but I wasn't interested in dealing with an unwilling subject.

"Go ahead, I'm listening," I said as I looked at him, dead in the eyes, holding my hands clasped behind my back. (No, I was not attempting to implant any suggestions or controls into his mind. I merely wanted him to know that he had my full attention.)

"Good," Ted said satisfied that he had the upper hand in the conversation. "While I appreciate what you did for me at the bank, I cannot condone the method that you used. You mentioned nothing at all about hypnosis. You said only that you would show me a relaxation technique. I find it deplorable that you intentionally mislead me. You should have been up-front and honest about the fact that you intended to hypnotize me."

"I see," I said after waiting a few moments to be sure that Ted was done speaking. "What exactly is it that you want from me?" I asked him. I agreed with him, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what more he wanted from me.

"I want to you admit that you were wrong to hypnotize me without asking my permission first," Ted stately flatly. "You know you shouldn't have done that, and I want you hear you say it."

"Well," I replied with a sigh. "You are correct, Ted. I was wrong not to have asked you for your permission before I hypnotized you. A hypnotist should always respect his subjects and insure that he has their full agreement before he begins an induction. I was wrong not to have mentioned the hypnosis to you. However, I felt that the circumstances warranted my omission of mentioning hypnosis. I felt it was more important to help you with your panic attack, and bringing up the subject of hypnosis would only have made things more difficult."

"In your opinion," Ted said, disbelievingly as he looked at me, unmoved by my words.

"Yes, in my opinion," I agreed. "But Ted, you're forgetting one simple and basic rule of hypnosis."

"Which would be?" Ted asked.

"That a person cannot be hypnotized against his will," I said. "He has to agree to it, to go along with the suggestions and the induction, or nothing happens." (Okay, so I told a little white lie. We were discussing ordinary hypnosis, not the type of super hypnosis that is achieved when I used my powers on a subject.)

"You're saying that nothing would have happened at the bank, if I hadn't really wanted to go under in the first place?" Ted asked incredulously.

"Exactly," I confirmed.

"I don't believe you," Ted responded. "I never wanted to be hypnotized. I just wanted to stop hyperventilating."

"Believe what you will," I said with a sigh. "Now if that is all, I would appreciate it if you would leave now."

"Oh, I'm not done with you yet, not by a long shot," Ted declared as he locked his eyes with mine. "I've got a lot more to say to you!" With surprising speed and agility, Ted grabbed me, whirled me about and pinned me up against the front door, pressing down on my shoulder with his hands. He was leaning forward and using the weight of his body to effectively pin me with my back against the front door like a butterfly pinned on a mounting board.

I blinked in surprised as I tried to adjust to this sudden turn of events. I had not expected Ted to get violent with me! I should have picked up some indication of his intention, but nothing had registered on my mind. So far that was two surprises in one evening.

Ted locked his eyes back on mine as he began speaking to me again. This time, though, his voice was as cold as an arctic wind, and as mean as a junkyard dog. "You're going to listen to what I have to say to you! I want to you know exactly how you made me feel after I figured out that you had tricked me. I felt humiliated, and ashamed. I was in a position where I was desperate for some help, and you took advantage of me. I trusted you and you lied to me."

Ted paused for a moment or two as he composed his thoughts, and got ready to continue his tirade. "I was seeking help, and you took advantage of that situation. I think you are the lowest form of life I have ever encountered. I'd call you scum, except that it would be an insult scum everywhere. I looked to you for help, and you took advantage of me. I can't believe I actually looked into your eyes, seeking help. I should never have done that."

Ted paused again as he blinked a few times. He was staring into my eyes most intently. I wasn't saying a peep. It was not like I could have gotten a word in edgewise, anyway. (Before you ask, no, I was not sending any commands into Ted's mind, even though I had solid eye contact with him. It wasn't necessary, and I wasn't really interested in hypnotizing him. Besides the points he made were valid. I owed it to him to listen to his complaints. It was the least I could do.)

"I ought to slap you silly while I have this chance," Ted said coldly. (From the tone of his voice, it was more than just an idle threat, I was sure.) "But, I won't do that. I refuse to lower myself to your level. I won't take advantage of the situation, which is more than I can say for what you did, getting me to look into your eyes like that. It sounded dumb at the time and I should have been more suspicious."

Ted paused again, a little bit longer this time, before he continued speaking. "I hope I never see you at the bank again. If I ever do, I will be sure to avoid any contact with you, or your eyes. I don't want to have to serve you at the bank. After what you did to me, with you eyes, I don't trust you. No. I don't trust you at all, you and your eyes."