Chapter 1

Now that I knew ... or thought I knew ... I could hypnotize people, I had to find out if I could break down Mary Ann's reserve. Would I be able to get close enough to talk to her and find out if she remembered our promise from when we were little? Turned out it was easier than I thought it would be. The next day, Billy Donegan told me he was having a party the next weekend and he expected me to be there. I had played on the Jr High Basketball team with him and he lived in Glen Vista, three doors down from Mary Ann. So naturally she would be there as well.

I went over my notes so I could make a plan. I decided that 'Erickson's' method would be the place to start. According to the book, he was the first to study the art of covert hypnosis. That is the second type I referred to, above. He also noted that many stage hypnotists actually condition their subjects using this method.

Capture attention. Relate to listener. Make several true and agreeable statements. Then pose the suggestion, followed by another affirmative statement.

.

There was hand movement involved of course, I'd noted this especially. Using gestures to condition the subject to affirm or deny ahead of the spoken word was key. Then once the subject indicated they followed those cues, implant a gesture for 'I suggest... '

I decided the gestures I would use: touching my chest over the heart for yes, the side of the neck for no, and a sweeping out palm up for the 'I suggest... '

Came the evening of the party, I was so excited I could hardly stand it. I'd be in the same room as my beloved. Never mind whether I would get a chance to actually 'work on her', that was enough in itself to fuel my obsession. There were a lot more kids there than I thought there'd be, unfortunately. I had to wait a couple of hours before I could corner her with a reasonable expectation of not being interrupted for the few minutes it would take to try my tricks.

It finally happened about ten. I started off with the ubiquitous brilliant teenager opening line:

"Hi!"

"Hi, yourself!"

"Good party!"

"Yes."

When she replied 'yes' I touched my chest. She glanced at my hand movement, which was the tipoff I needed.

"Are you going with anyone?"

She seemed a little flustered as if I might be getting too personal. That was a little surprising as most of the popular girls couldn't stop talking about who they liked or were 'going with'.

"I don't date anyone steady, why?"

That, of course, left me a little off balance. I never meant to imply that she might actually be 'dating someone steady'. Our community was pretty conservative, at least outwardly, and at our age, 'going with' referred to what person of the opposite sex you hung around with the most. Or had a crush on, as the case may be.

"er ... I mean do you date?"

"Umm ... no, not really."

I decided to change the subject.

"Gee ... you look great!"

She blushed. Evidently she was at a loss for words on a complementary reply, but I didn't let that bother me.

"I really miss you as a neighbor. We had a lot of fun." I made the affirm gesture again.

"Yes, we did." And she, again, blushed a little. I decided to press it a little.

"I don't have anyone else I trust a secret to..."

"I know what you mean." She didn't hesitate a bit on that reply. That was pretty encouraging.

"Well ... if you ever have any secrets you need to share, I'm still around." I did the affirm one last time and her eyes followed it. I turned and started away, while keeping her in my peripheral vision ... she seemed as though she wanted to reply but stopped herself. I hesitated a beat and turned back to her.

"Oh ... can I have your phone number?"

""Ummm ... we're in the book."

I smiled and responded that we were too.

"Girls can call boys ... especially just friends. You should call me sometime." My last gesture.

Her girl friend, Sally, came up and dragged her away to meet someone. Mary Ann looked back at me and smiled.

She called at 5 the next afternoon.

"Larry?"

"Hi, Mary Ann!"

There was an awkward pause. I tried to break it.

"What you up to?" ... and immediately felt like an idiot.

"Oh ... a couple of us are going to the mall."

I was still a little groggy from the long night of fantasy-filled sleeplessness, leading to my wanking off at least three times. I didn't have that dream but now I was beginning to worry that I was obsessing over her. To try to keep from going overboard I sat and wrote down three things I thought I should avoid doing and made a vow to check it at least once a day: Calling her more than once a day, following her without her knowledge and ... something else I considered most important: talking to her at school without her initiating the conversation. But the gist of it was I was never to seem 'eager'.

"Sounds like fun."

"Not really. It's just something to do."

"Well, at least you have someone to hang out with..." I was going to mention that my buddies were out of town, but she didn't give me the chance.

"Ah ... we just talk about the same old things. It gets boring. That's why I called ... to see if you wanted to hang out with me."

"Won't the other girls think I'm in the way? I mean I don't run with you guys."

"They can like it, or go do their own things."

I said I'd meet her at one.

When I got there, Mary Ann, Janine and Sally were sitting at a table in the food court.

Mary Ann introduced us, Sally seemed sincere in her 'glad to meetcha', Janine just sort of sniffed and said 'Hi'.

We made a little small talk about the classes, who we knew, and the football team ... did I know the hunky quarterback, etc, the usual nonsense.

"What do you do for fun?"

"I study hypnotism." Janine rolled her eyes. Sally sort of snickered. Mary Ann just smiled.

"That stuff's garbage." Janine sniffed.

"Sure it is," I offered. "No one can make you do what you don't want to."

"Then why ... how..."

"Because they want to."

The two friends of Mary Ann giggled.

"So ... if I just dangle something shiny in front of Bradd (the quarterback), he'll ask me out?"

I looked straight in Janine's eyes and made the affirm. "If he wants to ask you out ... sure!"