Jim Morrison cringed as he suddenly heard his wife's voice raised above the normal hub bub of the conversation in the room.
"Oh my God," he thought. "Not again."
It was the night of Jim's firm's annual dinner. Breton, Bergman and Simms were a leading financial institution in the city. Jim was an account manager and he should have already been offered a partnership by now. He was good at his job, but his wife Marion was the stumbling block.
She was intensely disliked by the majority of the company, especially many of the company wives. The problem was she was the grand-daughter of James E Breton, one of the founders of the company. The main reason she was disliked was for her opinionated views, something she tended to express openly, not caring whom she hurt.
Things had been different ten yeas ago when Jim and Marion were first married. But the marriage had turned out to be a loveless affair, partly because of Jim's high workload, but more so because of their inability to have any children.
Things turned from bad to worse when after a medical examination, it was discovered that it was a problem with her that could not be rectified. She became bitter and refused Jim any sexual pleasures. "What's the point if I can't have children?"
Now at 35, Marion was still an extremely attractive woman, with a figure that would turn heads on the street. She devoted all her time and energy to her causes and charities for which she worked tirelessly. But even her good work caused friction and endless arguments among the other members because what Marion said was always correct and she could never make a mistake.
She had an opinion about everything, which she usually made very pointedly. This came over when Jim informed her one evening that Andre Casson, the well known hypnotist and magician, had been booked to appear as part of the entertainment for the firm's annual dinner.
"That charlatan!" she exclaimed. "He's nothing but a con merchant. Why can't they book a decent act like a coral group or a good string quartet? They would be much more up market."
Jim did not say anything as he did not want to get into an argument, but he knew that the annual dinner was an excuse for everyone to let their hair down, and a coral group or a string quartet would add very little to the evening.
Now Marion was making her views known to everyone around her. "Andre Casson." she said. "It was all a set up. He puts people in the audience. No one could hypnotize a person against their will and make them do silly things." She would show them--she would show him up as the charlatan he was.
After the dinner, they all moved into a small lounge. Chairs had been placed around a small stage. Waitresses moved around supplying everyone with drinks. When everyone was served, the lights dimmed and the audience became hushed. A spotlight lit up the centre of the stage, and from off stage, a voice announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, would you put your hands together for the man of the evening, Andre Casson."
A polite round of applause came from the audience, and a tall imposing man in an immaculate evening suit appeared on stage. He smiled a welcome to his audience and began his act with a selection of intriguing card tricks.
Then he addressed his audience and explained to them about hypnosis. "There is," he said, "a theory that a person under hypnosis won't do anything that is against their normal nature to do. You might not get a hypnotized person to commit a serious crime, but there are secret desires in all our minds and I wish to show this to you tonight."
There were murmurs from around the small audience, and Andre held his hand up for silence. "First, I would like a volunteer." Before anyone else in the room could move, Marion, much to Jim's and everyone's surprise, moved quickly from her seat. Andre smiled down at her and held out his hand to help her up onto the small stage. She was a little surprised as he did not seem at all concerned by her eagerness to help.
He asked her name and then asked if she were willing to be hypnotized. She told him her name and said that she was quite willing. She stood there on the stage and smiled at the audience.
She would show them just what a fake this man was. She watched as Andre took a large gold watch from his waistcoat pocket. It had a gold chain on it. He held it up and began to swing it before her eyes. She was still confident as she stared into Andre's dark brooding eyes.