Chapter 6

“Did you flush?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“Did you wash your hands?”

“No.”

“Please go do that,” she groaned.

When he came back she told him to sit down.

“I’m going to try to undo this,” she said.

“Thanks.”

She waved the wand and said, “You can lie again.” She looked at him, expectantly.

“Nothing,” he said. “I mean I didn’t feel anything.”

“Do you want to make love with me?” she asked.

“Desperately,” he sighed.

She frowned. It hadn’t worked. Why hadn’t it worked? More to the point, why had it worked when she told him to be truthful?

She thought back to what she’d done. The gestures with the wand were something she’d practiced so much that they came naturally, now. But that had never done anything before. It had to be something about her, that had made it work.

She closed her eyes. Why had she diverted from what he’d asked her to do, to something else?

Because she really wanted to know the truth. Her desire had been bone-deep. Her psyche had demanded that she get the truth. It had been her unconscious, but fervent desire.

She opened her eyes and looked at Bobby. He was a handsome young man. He was eight years younger than she was, but the age gap didn’t seem that large at all. He seemed more like he was a sophomore in college, and she was a senior. She couldn’t blame him for his fantasies. She’d had a couple about him, too. Granted, they weren’t anywhere as detailed as his were, but still...

In the end, as she waved the wand, thoughts in her mind tumbled around. There was a “Bobby, come back!” aspect, and a, “Be yourself” train of thought, as well as a more specific, “You can conceal the truth again!” kind of thing. Mixed in there was also the thought, “Be the man I found so attractive.” She felt like it couldn’t possibly work, because she couldn’t settle her thoughts into one, distilled desire. But she really wanted to help him.

He sagged to one side, and lifted his hand to his head.

“Thank God,” he gasped.

“What?”

“It’s gone,” he said. “That compulsion is gone.”

“You can lie again?” she asked.

“I hate you,” he said. “I never want to see you again.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, shocked.

“I was lying,” he said. “You know how I really feel.”

He covered his eyes.

“I can’t believe I said all those things,” he groaned.

“It’s all right,” she said, as relief surged through her. “What’s important is that you’re back to normal.”

“You must hate me,” he moaned.

“I don’t hate you,” she insisted.

“But I said all those things!” he blurted.

“I made you say all those things,” she said.

“That doesn’t mean they didn’t disgust you.”

“Bobby!” she barked. “Look at me!”

He raised tortured eyes and she reached to grasp his chin, to prevent him from looking away.

“I am not disgusted. You did not horrify me. Is that clear?”

She saw his visage change, as hope replaced despair.

“Okay,” he said, weakly.

“Tell me what you remember when all this happened,” she said.

He was still uncomfortable. That was clear. But he took a breath and frowned as he thought back.

“It was like something snapped inside me. Like you know if you have a rubber band on your wrist, and you pull it and let it snap back? It was a little like that. I could feel the compulsion come over me. At the same time, it felt good to be able to say what I really felt.” He shot a guilty look at her.

“I said it was okay!” she growled. “Think of it as me being flattered.”

“Really?”

“I didn’t say that was true. Just think of it that way!”

“Okay,” he said. “Anyway, I knew everything that was going on. Like nothing else had changed. I knew it was crazy to say that, to tell you that, but you asked, so I had to. Why did you ask that?”

“I had to ask you something that I thought you might want to lie about,” she said.

“Well, ding, ding, ding, you got that one right,” he sighed.

“So nothing else changed?”

“Not that I could tell,” he said. “Everything else felt normal.” His hand went to lie on top of his zipper. “Sorry,” he said, looking down and then back up. He moved his hand.

“I’m going to tell you something, but you must promise never to tell anyone else,” she said. “I mean this. If I tell you, and you tell anyone else, I’ll never speak to you again. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Promise me,” she insisted.

“We have a bond of trust that must never be broken,” he said. “I promise with all my heart never to betray that trust.”

“That was beautiful,” she sighed.

“The secret?” he prompted.

“I’ve had ... um ... impure thoughts about you in the past, too.”

There it was. It was out there, unchained, loose in the world, able to wreak havoc.

“Really?”

“Not quite as specific as your thoughts,” she said. “But socially unacceptable. So you having that reaction really doesn’t threaten me. Okay?”

“Got it,” he said. “I mean I get that nothing could ever really happen. Believe it or not, that makes me feel better.”

“Good. Now, I think I know how I did it, but I’m not sure.’

“One thing for sure,” he said. “We know it can work.”

“We knew that already,” she said.

“So tell me what you think it was,” he said.

“So you think the wand focuses some mental desire. Is that it?”

“Yes, but it has to be a desire that really matters. I mean I wanted to undo your curse, but it only happened when I was afraid I couldn’t undo it. It only happened when I was really serious about it.”

“It wasn’t a curse,” said Bobby.

“Of course it was. It was a terrible thing to do to you.”

“If you’d left it that way, I’d agree,” he said. “But you didn’t.”

“It made you say things you didn’t want to say,” she argued.

“Maybe, but they were true things. And saying them to you felt really good while I was doing it. Telling you how I felt was ... I don’t know ... It was like I was really free for the first time in my life. I mean don’t get me wrong. I’m really glad you got it fixed, but part of me is glad it worked.”