The Coffee Shop Pt. 05

He looked at me, but he didn't say anything. I looked back at him, and decided to wait until he said something. We were staring each other down like two gunslingers in an old west movie. I looked over Mister Carson, as I waited. He was a handsome figure of a man, as I had mentioned earlier. Andy liked him. I did not share Andy's opinion of Mister Carson. This business with Rusty and me, just might cost Andy his riding privileges at the ranch. I didn't want that to happen, but right now I didn't see any way out of the problem at hand.

"Get out. Get off my land. I never want to see you again," Mister Carson said with a voice so cold that I was surprised icicles did not form in the air.

"As you wish. I will have Andy return the crutches when I am done with them," I said with a sigh. There was no room for discussion. Mister Carson had made up his mind about me.

"Andy is still welcome here, but only without you," Mister Carson said in that same cold voice.

"Thank you for that, Mister Carson," I said as I turned about and started to hobble towards the door.

Suddenly, two cowboys appeared from behind the stacks of hay bales and slide the bard doors closed. They smiled at me, with smiles that were anything but friendly. Slowly I turned about and faced Miser Carson. I started to gather my mental powers.

"You ain't leavin' 'til you tell me what you did to my horse," Mister Carson said, as two more cowboys appeared behind him and walked up to stand next to him. I thought I recognized one of the cowboys, but did my best to conceal my reaction.


I sighed to myself. First he wants me to leave and now he won't' let me go. Did this man even know how to make up his mind about something?

"I didn't do anything to your horse. Sometimes animals have a preference for a particular person. In Rusty's case she knew that I wouldn't hurt her. I was no threat. I was injured when I dropped in on her. Haven't you ever heard of a horse whisperer?" I asked.

"Bull shit," Mister Carson replied. "You ain't no horse whisperer. I don't buy that story for a second. It's so lame it's pathetic."

"It's the truth. That is what happened," I tried to think of some way to explain what had happened without using my super hypnosis powers on Mister Carson. Then an idea hit me. "You have to admit that sometimes animals have instincts and pick up on things that people don't. For example, horses know when to avoid treacherous ground. Horses know when the rider on their back is experienced or not. Why can't a horse sense that a person is no threat? Why is what I am telling you, so impossible for you to believe?"

"You had to have drugged that horse," Mister Carson said stubbornly.

"Search me right now," I challenged him. "See if I have anything that I could possibly used to drug a horse."

"Do it Cody," Mister Carson ordered. The cowboy who approached me a few seconds later looked very familiar, but Cody was a very common name for a cowboy, so I thought nothing of it. I didn't see any spark of recognition in his eyes as he walked towards me. It wasn't the same guy. Or was it? I put on my best poker face as I realized it was quite possibly the same cowboy named Cody that I'd encountered at the restaurant those many months ago. Now this shifted the odds a bit more in my favour, in the unlikely event that a physical altercation developed.

Cody patted me down for any type of concealed equipment. He asked my permission to search my pockets. He found nothing out of the ordinary.

"He's clean, Mister Carson," Cody reported a few minutes later. He walked back to Mister Carson and resumed his earlier position. Cody looked back at me, sternly. He was confident of himself. His manner and his voice did seem very familiar, but it had been at least six months since I'd seen the cowboy named Cody that I'd hypnotized, so I couldn't be absolutely sure. It sure seemed to be Cody, though. I knew of one way to be certain. Use Cody's trigger, and see what happened.

"Fine, but your story still doesn't make any sense," Mister Carson said.

"It makes even less sense to me. I'm a greenhorn, remember? Nonetheless, it is the truth. All I can do is to ask you to believe me," I said calmly.

Mister Carson stared at me, but he didn't say anything for a few moments. "I don't have any proof of it, but I still think you did something to that horse," Mister Carson said stubbornly. The tone of his voice was less stern, as if he was coming to believe me.

"Well, the fact of the matter is, that I didn't do anything to Rusty," I said calmly. "You have all the facts before you. Whether or not you believe me is, of course, your decision. I don't have any magical powers over animals. I've heard that people can hypnotize animals, but I never learned how to do that. I can only hypnotise people," I said, hoping to get a conversation going with Mister Carson.

"Yeah, right," Mister Carson said doubtfully. "Now you're telling me you're a hypnotist."


"I'm not a professional one, but I am skilled at hypnotizing people," I admitted. "Would you like proof?" I asked with a grin. Oh, this was going to be sweet.

"Yeah, okay. Prove it," Mister Carson said.

"I hypnotised Cody there and turned him into my obedient and willing hypnotized cowboy slave," I said with a smile. Cody was indeed the cowboy standing to Mister Carson's right. I could see an alarmed look come to his face as Cody finally recognized me. He remembered our last encounter, or rather what I wanted him to remember. The intervening months since our last encounter accounted for the initial lack of recognition that we each had for the other. Cody remembered me now though.

"You want to borrow a shovel to move the pile of manure you're dumping?" Mister Carson said with a laugh.

"Do you mind, Cody? May I hypnotize you again?" I asked Cody using that same calm voice.

"No. No thanks," Cody said shaking his head, keeping his eyes glued on me.

"Sorry, Mister Carson, but Cody's not interested," I stated.

"Do it to him anyway, if you can," Mister Carson demanded. "I want proof that you can hypnotize somebody. Cody, tell him it's okay. Heck there are three other cowboys here to make sure nothing happens to you."

Cody looked at me sternly for a second. "Only if you promise not to make me do anything stupid, foolish or embarrassing," Cody said to me.

"Agreed, Cody. Cowboy Up Cody," I called out. Cody's eyes' immediately glazed over and that vacant expression with the silly grin appeared on his face. "Now be a good little cowboy and crawl over here to me on your hands and knees, Cody and then sit down beside me on my left side." I ordered him.

"Yes boss! Right away!" Cody replied as he dropped to his knees. He crawled over to me, looking up at me smiling. When he was in front of me, he carefully crawled to his left, around and behind me. It took him only a few more seconds to crawl up next to me on my left side and then to sit down on the ground on his butt, with his legs out in front of him. His hands were resting by his sides in the dirt. "All set, boss," Cody said with a big smile as he looked up at me.

"Good boy, Cody," I reassured him, without looking down at him. I had been watching Mister Carson the entire time. His self assured confidence had just been shaken somewhat at my demonstration of my control over Cody.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Mister Carson asked the surprise covering his face.

"I hypnotized him many months ago, as part of a bet," I explained. "I never removed the hypnotic trigger. Cody never asked me to do that."

"He's faking," Mister Carson said dismissively.

"No, he's not. Or does he often crawl around on the ground when told to?" I asked softly, but with a hint of steel in my voice. "Cody, stand up."


"Yes, boss," Cody replied as he scrambled to his feet. As soon as he was standing up and looking at me, the expression of joy returned to his face. He did so like doing what I told him.

"Well then make him take off all his clothes and act like a chicken," Mister Carson taunted me, while ignoring my question.

"I don't' humiliate the people I hypnotize," I said scornfully. "Besides, he asked me not to do that, before I hypnotized him. But in your case, Mister Carson, if I hypnotized you, I'd be tempted to make an exception."

"You? You're gonna hypnotize me? Dream on, greenhorn. I know you can't do that," Mister Carson said and then laughed at me.

"Oh I can, but I choose not to waste my time on you," I said calmly. "When I snap my fingers this one time, Cody, you will awaken from your trance and be back to your normal self in every way, remembering everything that happened in your trance."

"Yes, boss," Cody agreed and then he frowned at me. "But boss, I want to stay here. It's so nice and it's been so long since I've been back here."

I ignored Cody's plea, and snapped my fingers of my right hand. Cody awoke with a jerk. He blinked his eyes and looked about as he got his bearing. He quickly recognized me and a look of caution came to his face. He didn't fear me, but he was giving me a healthy dose of respect. Slowly he backed away from me as he spoke. "Thank....thank you for waking me up, Paul. Thank you for not making me strip and act like a chicken. I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you earlier."

"You should know me well enough by now, to realize I keep my promises Cody," I said to him. "You have done everything I have asked of you this time. There is no need for you to apologise to me."

"Is what he said true, Cody? Did this guy hypnotize you?" Mister Carson asked Cody as he turned his attention from me to Cody.

"Yeah, we had a run in, and Paul here taught me a lesson or two. You do not want to mess with him, when it comes to hypnosis. He challenged me, and two other cowboys, and he hypnotized all three of us. We did whatever he said, and we couldn't stop ourselves. He made it so that we didn't want to disobey him. Even now, a part of me wants to go into hypnosis for Paul. The only reason why I'm not high tailing it out of here is that I know he'd never trance me without my permission," Cody said to Mister Carson.

"So why don't you act like a man and beat the shit out him then?" Mister Carson demanded of Cody.

"He won't let me. I can't hurt him, even if I wanted to. To be honest, I don't want to, anymore," Cody walked away from Mister Carson and stood next to me. Cody turned around and looked at Mister Carson. "Paul is not my friend, but I will defend him, if I must."

"Why would you do that? Did he hypnotize you so you'd protect him?" Mister Carson asked.


"No, he didn't hypnotize me to do that. Over the past few months, I've come to understand what a jerk I was. I still am a jerk, in some ways, but I'm working on it. Paul showed me that. I don't like him much for doing what he did to me, but I've come to understand why he did what he did. He's honest. He's earned my respect. Maybe someday, I might even call him my friend, that is if he will let me," Cody answered.

I was moved my Cody's words. I had never expected him to have such a revelation. It felt good to know that my efforts had paid off unexpected benefits.

"Well get on with it then," Mister Carson said with a sneer. "Hypnotize me, if you can't, but I gotta warn you I ain't going to cooperate with you."

"I wouldn't do that, Mister Carson," Cody warned him.

"You keep your weak willed mouth shut, Cody," Mister Carson ordered. "This is between me and Mister Hypnosis, over there. Now take your best shot." Cody looked at Mister Carson as if he had been slapped across the face by Mister Carson.

"Fine." I said as I walked up and faced Mister Carson so that I was standing as close to him as I could.

"What are you getting in my face for?" Mister Carson said. "Back off."

"I don't want to accidentally hypnotize Cody or anyone else. I need to talk to you softly and quietly, while these other gentlemen watch from a distance."

"Oh, I guess that's okay," Mister Carson agreed. He wasn't giving more than he absolutely had to.

I decided to make this a fast super hypnosis induction, by using physical contact. "I'm still a bit unsteady on my legs. Would you mind bracing me by putting your hands firmly on my shoulders?" I asked him softly.

"Like this?" Mister Carson said as he placed one of his hands on each of my shoulders and grasped them firmly.

"That's fine, thank you," I said as I looked into his eyes.

"Nope," Mister Carson said with a smile as he quickly shut his eyes. "I told you I'm not going to cooperate."

"Okay," I replied softly. I was focussing most of my attention on the physical contact that I had with Mister Carson's body. Quickly I exerted my super hypnotic mental powers and pushed them into his mind by way of Mister Carson's arms. I fought to contain the smile that threatened to break out on my face. Miser Carson's mind was like an open book to me. I could clearly sense his thoughts and how firm his intention was to resist my hypnotizing him. Carefully I inserted the thought into his mind that he would open his eyes and look deep into mine, just to prove to me how strong his will was. It took only a few heartbeats to set the suggestion in place. I left the mental contact in place so I could monitor his reactions. If I read him correctly, he'd be under my control very quickly.

"Too afraid to look me in the eyes, eh Mister Carson?" I taunted him. I knew what his reaction would be, thanks to a little help from my powers.

"Hell no!" Mister Carson cried out as his eyes popped open. It took him only a few seconds to lock eyes with me. The determined set on his face looked like it was carved in stone. "There isn't a man born yet, that I can't stare down."


Oh I was so loving this. Hypnotizing Mister Carson was going to be a lot more enjoyable than I'd thought. As much as I wanted to drag it out and savour it, I had to hypnotize him rather quickly. There was no telling how long the other cowboys would wait before they tried to interfere. I thought for a moment and then pushed some more commands into his mind. 'Each suggestion, each word that I say to you now, Mister Carson, takes effect immediately. You will find yourself falling into my power and under my control very quickly. You will find that you enjoy it a lot and want it to continue. It just seems natural and good. It feels like it is the right thing to do.' Now that he was primed, mentally, I could do the induction using my voice.

"Go ahead and stare deep into my eyes, Mister Carson," I encouraged him, still speaking softly so that we could not be overheard. "Most guys that I hypnotize soon find that they enjoy looking in my eyes. It's amazing how deep they actually are. It surprises a lot of guys that when they look deep into my eyes, just as you are doing, they find themselves staring deeper and deeper into my eyes. And soon and very soon indeed they discover that my eyes are like cool calm pools and they find it pleasant, even relaxing, to continue to stare into my eyes. As you said, Mister Carson, there isn't a man born yet that you can't stare down, so naturally you want to keep staring into my eyes."

"Yeah, I could do this forever," Mister Carson agreed, with a slight nod of his head. He didn't realize it yet, but the tone of his voice had softened a lot. It wasn't nearly as harsh and hard as it has been a few moments ago. He was speaking almost as softly as I was. The confident, arrogant tone of his voice had melted away.

"So keep on doing it and as you do, you'll find that my eyes seem to go on forever. The deeper you look into them, the deeper you seem to go. It doesn't concern you in the least, because you know you can never be out stared by anyone," I said playing on his ego.

"Damn, right," Mister Carson agreed, interrupting me.

I ignore the interruption and continued on. "Just looking deeper and deeper, and the deeper you look the easier it becomes to keep on looking deeper. Soon, and very soon indeed, you'll discover that you really like to look deeper in my eyes because it feels so good, so relaxing to do so. It seems that with each word that I utter and with each breath that you take, all you can do now, is to stare deeply into my eyes." I told him as I continued with the induction.

"Stare deeply into your eyes....yes," Mister Carson said with a soft sigh. The look of determination on his face softened now as my super hypnosis took firm hold of his mind. His face relaxed more and more as he continued to speak. "Deeper and deeper, yes. So easy to just stare and go deeper. Can't be stared down. Eyes so deep, just have to keep looking deeper, yes."

"That's right Mister Carson. All you can do now is to keep looking deeper and deeper into my eyes. You don't want to look away now. In fact, with your next breath you won't be able to look away. In fact the harder you try to look away from my eyes, more strongly your eyes become locked on mine, and the deeper you look into them," I said in a soft but very firm voice.

Mister Carson sighed and then spoke. "Can't look away? Sure I can. Anytime I want to. Sure...I....can...." There was a brief pause in his words as he tried to wrench his eyes away from mine. He blinked a few times as if that might help break the contact between us. It was ineffective of course. "Don't want to...look away. Feels so good to keep looking deeper." Mister Carson sighed a few more times before he continued speaking. "Looking deeper feels so good. Keep looking deeper and keep going deeper."


"That's right Mister Carson. The deeper you go the better you feel, and the better you feel the deeper you go," I said in response to his words. "Now be a good little cowboy, be my good little cowboy and go ten times deeper now, as you listen to my words. You cannot resist my words. They flow into your mind and take you deeper into my eyes, into my power and under my control."

"Deeper into your eyes.... Deeper into your control..." Mister Carson said a few seconds later. His voice was now as soft as mine. His face had become blank as he agreed with my words. "Why the hell not? I just want to go deeper into your eyes."

"And deeper into my control?" I asked him.

"Yes, sir, deeper into your control, sir," Mister Carson agreed a half second later.

"I'll bet you never knew that hypnosis could feel so good, or that you would wind up going so very deep into hypnosis that you would love the feeling of being controlled by me," I said as I piled up the suggestions onto Mister Carson's mind.

"Yes, sir. It does feel so good. Yes, sir. I love being controlled by you, sir," Mister Carson agreed after a few moments.

"It just continues to feel good as you go down deeper and deeper, Mister Carson," I responded, exerting more of my super hypnosis powers on him. "Following my words down deeper into my power and into my control of your mind. It leads you down into a special place in your mind where you are safe and secure. All the sounds, other than my voice, just fade into the background as your powers of concentration become stronger and focus only on the smooth soothing sound of my voice. It feels so pleasant to listen to my voice and my words, doesn't it, Mister Carson?"

"Oh yes sir. Your voice is so strong, so powerful. Why didn't I notice this before?" Mister Carson asked, a look of puzzlement appearing on his face.

"In hypnosis, you're able to focus your mind and notice things that you might not otherwise be aware of,' I answered. "Just keep looking deeper and deeper into my eyes, and let yourself fall into my power and into my control. You know you want to do it, Mister Carson. So why not go for it?" I prompted him.