Substance A 101 -- The Field Test
'Poisoned?'
'Yes, Charles, poisoned,' Julia replied, 'that's we wanted to call you all over for,' looking at the two married couples in her living room.
Serena and Charles Sutton from across the road where a typical snooty middle class couple. Charles, in his square glasses, white shirt and powder blue jumper, brown slacks and shoes, looked every inch the computer nerd that he was. Serena was taller, slender, with long straight brunette hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a stylish yellow dress and matching shoes and handbag. Her car, parked in the drive across the road, was the same colour as her clothes and accessories.
Harry and Catherine Travis from Number 15, just up the road were another middle class, not exactly well-to-do, couple. The wife had a square jawed, wide face, high cheekbones and a mane of blonde hair, whereas Harry was big boned, with dark skin, short black hair, stubble and sideburns.
'You did want to know what happened to the tree,' Julia added. 'Well Jane and Simon Thompson -- your neighbours at Number 17,' she said, pointing to the Travises and the Suttons -- poisoned that tree.'
'Bloody inconvenience,' Charles muttered. 'Ruined my garden.'
'But we know all this,' said Mrs Travis. She looked at Julia, lighting a cigarette from the ornate wooden box on the coffee table. 'Why are we all here?'
'Well, my insurance company at first weren't going to pay up,' Julia said. 'Said it was, what they call an Act of God. However, when the Council came back they said that the tree had indeed been poisoned by the Thompsons.'
'Why in God's name would they do such a stupid thing?'
'Oh, money,' Julia replied. 'The Thompsons were trying to get a better asking price from the sale of Number 17, but the Council weren't budging on the tree. It was healthy, and it was over 200 years old so there was a preservation order protecting it.'
'And what does that mean for our claims?' Catherine asked. Julia grinned.
'We can go ahead and sue the Thompsons after all,' Julia replied. 'Also, since the cause of the damage is officially not force majeure but accidental destruction indirectly inflicted by sabotage, our insurance policies will pay up for all the damages.'
The neighbours looked at each other, joy registering in their faces.
'My friend in the Council is willing to submit a report to each of your insurance companies,' Julia said, taking in the smiles on the faces of her neighbours. 'So you can get cash from your insurance and you can still sue the Thompsons. So are the Council, for destruction of their property--the tree.'
Mrs. Travis breathed out one last cloud of fragrant smoke and stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray. 'Well, that sounds like cause for a celebration,' she said.
'It has been a long four weeks since the tree fell,' Julia concurred. 'I brought along a couple of bottles of bubbly for our celebration. 'Won't be a second,' she said. 'I'll see what's keeping Jack in the kitchen.'
In the kitchen, Jack was waiting for Julia. "Are you sure we should be doing this so soon?" she said nervously.
"Well we agreed to test the new formula on some standard married subjects", Jack said, "We know it worked in the lab, Professor Wilson reacted strongly to the new formulation, she was incredibly easily aroused
and
she became unbelievably suggestable which we hadn't considered. She and that research assistant we used as guinea pigs certainly enjoyed it didn't they?"
Julia thought back to the unbelievable site of the straight laced Professor bent over the bench while Charlie, the young researcher, slid his hard cock into her repeatedly until she came, legs buckling.
"Yes but, these are our neighbors who knows how they'll respond."
"It'll be fine, don't worry" said Jack as he poured the coulourless liquid carefully into the champagne.
'How much are you giving them' she said.
Jack chuckled, "Just a little more than we gave to Professor Wilson and Charlie. And I found a video online which should provide the right stimulation, assuming they are as easily influenced as our randy Professor."
They both went into the lounge and served the drinks. Serena and Charles both took full glasses and they all raised them to toast their success and started chatting and laughing. The couples carried on sipping the champagne, Serena downing hers and demanding "toppers" quite quickly.
Now all they had to do was wait. Wait, and play the DVD just to get them started.
The couples were becoming more and more animated as the drug began to work, even snooty Serena was beginning to giggle as they all stood talking excitedly.
"I think I have some video you might like," Jack said smoothly reaching for the remote control.
Everyone looked at the large wall-mounted flat plasma screen.
On screen the voice over began '-- and as you are well aware, one of this country's most famous self-help gurus is, of course, the neurochemist Doctor Thomas Sharpton from the Sharpton Human Response Research Institute."
The camera cut to Doctor Sharpton; a man with heavy glasses and a serious expression on his long face. He sat in one of the studio's comfy chairs, facing a young couple across the studio.
'It's lovely to have you on the show, Doctor.'
Dr Sharpton smiled. 'It's great to be here, the Sharpton Method is versatile and can be applied to a wide range of problems, such as coping with house moves and the stresses of divorce -- not just quitting smoking or controlling eating.'
'Can you show us how it's done?' The young man asked.
'Of course, I'll start with the basics,' Dr Sharpton said.
'Oh, and those of you in the audience can join in as well,' he added, looking at the camera.
'This looks interesting,' Harry said. His wife tapped his arm to silence him. The couples sat straight, looking at the screen.
'It actually begins with you gathering your thoughts. Try to relax, and start taking deep, easy breaths.'
On the screen, the young man and girl got up from their comfy sofa and stood facing the camera, side by side. Both of them began breathing deeply and slowly, their breaths coming together and synchronising.
'Breathe in deeply...' Dr Sharpton said. 'Then breathe out again, slowly.' On screen, the young couple breathed as instructed, smiling.
'And continue,' Dr Sharpton said off screen. 'Breathing in... and out... in... and out again.'
In the living room, the couples were now all watching the screen, silently breathing in and out in time with the couple on the screen.
As Dr Sharpton continued, the drugged champagne was having an effect on them all.
On screen, the girl began to yawn and blink. The young man blinked as well, nodding and jerking his head.
In the room, the two couples were being increasingly affected by the drug and by the apparent sleepy behaviour of the screen presenters. Catherine was yawning openly; 'Oh,' she said, wondering why her body was suddenly so heavy and between her thighs so warm. Beside her, Harry was slumping in the chair, yawning.
The Suttons slowly sank sideways on the sofa, Serena's head coming to rest on her husband's shoulder as she squeezed her thighs tightly together.
On the screen, the girl and the young man continued to breathe gently in and out.
'Now,' came Dr Sharpton's voice again, 'everyone just open your eyes. Open your eyes. That's it. You're not asleep; only in a trance. Listen to what I say. Whatever you see in the room is perfectly and completely normal, and everything you do is also normal. You will do whatever I tell you to, this is normal and you're all keen to please me. Now all stand up'
The couples stirred, opening their eyes. Catherine got up slowly from the coffee table, blinking, elbowing Harry.
'Come on,' she hissed, 'get up.'
'I must have... must have dozed off,' mumbled Harry sleepily as he got to his feet. The others were all standing up.
'Now I want you to look at the screen,' said Dr Sharpton's voice. 'Just follow the lead of the people you see on the screen.' The screen cut to the young couple, who were now slowly removing their clothes.
The couple on screen continued to undress as the camera slowly pulled back to reveal their whole bodies. The couples followed suit. Harry and Catherine were the first to start mindlessly removing their clothes. Next was Charles, and lastly Serena, who simply slipped her dress down her body, revealing her bra and panties and her slim body.