Chapter 2

Ken and Beth both squinted as their eyes adjusted to the darkness of the main showroom. A small half-circle stage thrust out into a series of high-backed booths arrayed in concentric half-circles. Each row of booths stair-stepped up so that people seated in them could see over the row in front of them. A steep set of heavily carpeted stairs led down the center aisle to the stage. Art deco designs covered dingy walls and a moth-eaten curtain veiled the stage although it did not quite meet in the center. The room was packed with talkative people, young and old, anxiously awaiting the start of the show.

Ken and Beth found their way down to the booth that matched the number on their tickets. It was on the front row center.

"Thought he said these were bad seats..." Ken remarked. He paused when he noted that another couple already was seated in their assigned booth.

"Here we go... our seats are right... over here," said Beth as her eyes fell on the two remaining empty seats in the booth. "Hello, we're the Smiths. I guess we are sharing."

The well-dressed African-American man rose and extended his hand.

"Hello, I'm Jonas Jackson... my wife, Nita."

From his vantage point, two steps above the table, Ken could gaze directly down at Nita Jackson's ample cleavage. In contrast to her husband's very dark, almost purple hued skin, Nita was honey brown complexioned, very thin, and quite beautiful. Her high cheekbones intensified her bright smile. Ken's attention quickly refocused, however, on the very short skirt that barely covered Nita's most precious spot. A feeling of disappointment slinked through Ken when he realized that he wouldn't quite have the right angle to inspect what most assuredly would have been a show of Nita's panties if he had a better viewing location.

Nita looked up at Ken and demurely smiled. Ken at first thought that his obscene staring had been discovered, but then he determined that either she had not noticed or, if she knew he was looking at her boobs et al, she didn't let on.

Ken and Beth settled into their over-stuffed naugahyde seats, ordered and received drinks, and exchanged a few pleasantries with the Jacksons, including the determination that this was the first visit to this club for all of them. After a long pause, Beth felt Nita staring at her and turned to meet her gaze.

"I would swear that we have met somewhere before," Nita pondered. "You look very familiar to me."

"Perhaps," smiled Beth, "but, I don't think so. Actually, I was thinking the same thing."

Suddenly from the stage a loudspeaker crackled to life. A raspy female voice drew everyone's attention.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Klub Kasbah. Tonight, you will see sights that will amaze even the most skeptical among you... control of the mind like you have never seen before... hypnotizing, mesmerizing, tantalizing power over mind and body. So, without further ado, the Klub Kasbah proudly presents the greatest hypnotist on earth... the Amazing Roger!"

The curtain creaked open and an aging, distinctly unhandsome man appeared wearing a cape and old tuxedo along with a terrible comb-over hairdo held in place by an abundance of oil. He swept on to the stage and received the audience's rather reserved applause.

Ken whispered to Beth, "Roger? The guy's stage name is Roger? I thought hypnotists were named Kreskin or Rasputin or Dr. Demento or something... not Roger. This could be really bad... very very bad... I'm sorry I dragged you in here."

Ken rolled his eyes and continued to grouse until Beth shushed him quiet with a finger to her lips. Ken turned his attention back to the stage and at once he noticed the rather shoddy looking performer's penetrating eyes. Strangely, they were eyes like those of a black panther stalking its prey, dark and foreboding. Sinister shadowy circles underneath added to their disconcerting appearance. Ken felt a real sense of fear rise within him when the hypnotist suddenly turned and looked directly into what seemed to be Ken's very soul.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen."

The man's voice was deep, resonant, and commanding despite the certain disjointedness between the richness of his voice and the cheapness of his appearance. Ken's discomfort increased every time Roger's eyes fell directly on him... and they frequently did so.

"Tonight you will witness the most amazing, the most titillating, the most erotic display of the power of hypnosis ever performed. Are you sure you are ready to be amazed?"

He paused awaiting a response that didn't come.

"I said are you ready to be amazed?"

This time the audience responded with reserved affirmation.

"Good! The faint-of-heart and members of the Religious Right should leave at once. I hope there aren't any Mormons or Baptists in the crowd, are there?"

Laughter and shouts to the negative came from various audience members amid more enthusiastic applause. Ken sat motionless. He was fascinated by the deep, compelling and somewhat monotonous sound of the man's voice. He glanced at Beth and the others in their little booth. Everyone was staring at Roger. The hypnotist seemed to have their complete and undivided attention.

"First, allow me to introduce my beautiful and talented assistant, the lovely... Darlene."

Roger awkwardly threw out his arm displaying the rather faded red interior of his black cape. From backstage appeared a woman dressed in an obviously very old, red-sequined gown. Most of the sequins had long ago departed.

With one quick glance, Ken determined that this woman might be the most unattractive female he had ever seen. Even the stage make-up, which she wore in abundance, did not disguise that she was simply ugly in every way. The coup de gras came when she smiled revealing a jumble of rather dark stained teeth pointing in a variety of directions. The teeth were surrounded by brightly painted red lips. Hair dyed Lucille Ball red and a large mole on the side of her prominent nose completed the woeful picture.

"I would like to solicit some volunteers from the audience... ," the hypnotist droned. "Ruba-dub-dub!"

Ken began to cease attending to particular words, his mind started to wander, as did his eyes around the audience. People apparently from all walks of life filled the club. His attention suddenly was jolted back when the hypnotist moved directly above him on the stage and said, "Yes, and you there in the lovely dress... ok, and your friend as well... yes, you... you with the handsome husband... come on up."

Ken was shocked when both Nita and Beth began to make their way to the stage, giggling as they went like two embarrassed schoolgirls. Several other men and women gathered on stage and were directed to a row of folding chairs by Roger's homely assistant.

Jonas leaned over to Ken and said, "This might become very good... or very bad... for our wives, I mean. Do you think he can actually hypnotize your wife?"

"I don't know," Ken whispered.

"Mine will go under in seconds, I'm betting," said Jonas. "She went to a hypnotist to help her stop smoking. He said she was a quick and easy subject... so, I figure, she's under in a heart beat... maybe less."

Ken barely heard Jonas. Beth, his beaming wife who was seated ever so modestly in front of the audience, drew his rapt attention. A chill move up Ken's spine as he thought about the preview he had received from the man in the rest room. His mind filled with images of nakedness and sex on stage, yet he could not conceive of his conservative wife doing anything that wild.

She won't even consider giving me a blowjob in our own bedroom, Ken reasoned, so surely she won't be susceptible to suggestions like that. Or will she? My god, what if she is... in front of everyone... Jesus... this could be very bad... or very... good!

Ken's mind was ablaze with imaginative possibilities as he watched the hypnotist's assistant moving among the assembled group. Nita and Beth giggled together in adjacent seats. While curiosity made Ken anxious to see what would follow, a tinge of real fear lurked deep within him.

Disappoint came first, however. Instead of anything approaching risqué, the hypnotist began with the usual stunts of the trade. After a period of droning in his deep monotone to his subjects and occasionally whispering into their ears, several people appeared to fall asleep, including both Beth and Nita. Able assistant, Darlene, led the ones who were not asleep off the stage and they returned to their seats in the audience.

Doesn't work for everyone, I guess, thought Ken. Obviously worked for Beth though!

Roger, the hypnotist, began to focus attention on the first man in line by continuing to whisper in his ear. Ken's gaze, however, was drawn to the sight of sleeping Nita who was seated directly in front of the booth in which he and Jonas sat. Her head lolled on her shoulder and, best of all, her legs had become askance. Under the bright stage lights, a shiny triangle of white panties clearly showed between her splayed legs... plus, the more she seemed to relax, the more her legs parted.

Fearfully Ken glanced at Jonas to check his reaction. To Ken's surprise, Jonas also was staring directly at his own wife's crotch and openly was "adjusting" his own cock within his pants as he ogled her.

Ken's voyeuristic moment was interrupted when the hypnotist said something about a wardrobe change and Darlene helped Nita to her feet and led her off stage.

"She'll be back in a moment or two, folks," said Amazing Roger. His toothy smile struck Ken as overtly evil. Ken felt that tinge of fear growing larger within him.

After another minute or two, Roger, through whispers, incantations, and suggestions, had those on stage doing a variety of outlandish, but innocent things, such as, believing they were animals or that they were very cold or very hot.

Beth obviously had been told that she was sweltering. From his vantage point, Ken could see that she actually was sweating, fanning the front of her dress open and closed, and turning red. Once a skeptic, Ken now believed. This was neither a pre-fixed deal nor a joke. His wife plainly was under the full influence and control of the hypnotist, as were the others.

How far will this... how far will he go, Ken wondered. Another chill ran down Ken's spine as he again reflected on the conversation in the bathroom. No worries, Ken thought, if he does something like that to Beth, I'll simply hop up on stage and stop everything... I'll make him wake her up... I'll protect her. With that, Ken felt somewhat reassured.

Roger's almost unintelligible words and whispers continued to drone from the loudspeakers. In turn, the bizarreness level of each subject's behavior slowly increased. One older man, who thought he was a gorilla, climbed lithely on his chair and began to pick at invisible fleas. Another man's body became so rigid that Roger was able to prop him up between two chairs, neck on one and ankles on the other. There the man remained as if he was in rigor mortis.