Mathew and Kathleen Thatcher, Matt and Katie, pretty well have it made. They are relatively young, early 30's, good looking and healthy and with a job that is secure and very well paid. In addition, the working conditions hardly can be beat. They are in show business, a hypnosis act that is quite popular, in an almost perfect setting, and, even better, it comes with what is practically a captive audience. Their act, the stage part, at least, is put on no more than twice a week in normal conditions. How do they get such an ideal "gig"? They are a featured act on a cruise ship!
Katie is the on stage performer while Matt serves as manager and agent. They both are very good at what they do. They started out as a fill-in act, short term appearances as needed by the cruise line, but the popularity of their act gave Matt leverage to negotiate contracts, like their present one, that provides them with working conditions and control of their schedule that is the envy of other performers. Instead of living in I-95, the term used to designate the employee living and housing area, they get a suite and they are entitled to all passenger amenities such as pools, bars, food, shows, etc. In addition, when in port or between cruises, they have plenty of time to act as tourists and have seen much of Europe and the Caribbean.
So, during the late spring and summer, they cruise through the Mediterranean with occasional tours to Scandinavia, the British Isles, etc. At end of the season, they have a long "repositioning" cruise (18 or so days) back to the U.S. where the ships will spend the fall and winter travelling through the Caribbean area. However, before embarking for the Caribbean, they take a vacation for a month at their high rise condo in Miami which they had purchased cheaply at the bottom of the recession! In the spring, they take a repositioning cruise back to Europe or fly over and meet the ship there. A tough life!
Katie's role is the public one. She was a pre-med student in college and, after graduation, earned a master's degree in clinical therapy with an emphasis on hypnotherapy. It was there that she learned the theory and practice of hypnosis and found that she had a real talent in that area. Getting the client-patient-customer to relax is the core of hypnosis and she did it very well. It turned out that she was surprisingly successful in group settings as well as in one-to-one situations.
Katie is a physically attractive woman, standing about 5' 9", weighing around 130 pounds. Her breasts are proportional to her height and weight and, while not beautiful, she is good looking, actually quite pretty in non-professional settings. These physical qualities, however, are not the main assets that make her so successful on stage. What really sets her off from others is her stage presence by which she conveys a confidence and competency that causes audiences to be engrossed in her performance and for the volunteers on stage to fall under her influence quite easily. This aura carried over to group and private sessions in which she is also very successful.
It is these other sessions which, taken together with the stage show, makes Katie's services stand out and permits Matt to negotiate excellent contracts. She puts on a very good stage show as "just" a stage hypnotist, a term which sometimes is used condescendingly by critics who say that they are purely entertainers who put on comedy acts or, worse, are frauds. Katie's act is entertainment and, frequently comedic, but she is also a trained hypnotherapist who provides the same services practitioners provide in offices on land. Thus, for a good salary and "room and board", the cruise line is getting an excellent stage performer and a trained professional whose services are in great demand – plus her manager, of course.
Matt knows nothing about hypnosis except what he has gleaned from being with Katie, but, as shown by the contracts he has negotiated, he is excellent in running the non-stage elements of their act. He's about 6' 3", over 180 pounds, and played basketball in college while majoring in business and finance with a minor in sports management. This background turned out to be perfect training as a manager and negotiator and he has made the most of it.
Katie and Matt were going together during her therapy training and she assumed that her work would be in that field. She certainly had never thought of becoming a stage hypnotist. The career change began when she, while entertaining her friends at a party, demonstrated the process of hypnotizing. She was startled to find that almost everyone there succumbed when she tried the standard relaxation method. Both she and Matt had been in theatre productions in college so the idea of creating a show came naturally to them. They gradually worked up an act, went through the usual developmental stages and, ultimately, had a considerable level of success. They married, wanted to travel, submitted their resume to a cruise line and received a contract – without the current level of comforts and respect, of course!
So, as said before, they and their act were well regarded and remunerated. Their regular lives ran smoothly and their sex life was quite acceptable. They were happy with each other and had little need of or desire for external sexual stimulation or temptation. Doing something unprofessional or morally questionable with hypnotism arose in a teasing manner occasionally, but never was seriously considered.
It was about four years ago that things changed. Up until then, their on board life was routine – a show or two each cruise, depending on the cruise needs plus a series of scheduled meeting with groups and private sessions with individuals who had things they needed help on by the use of hypnosis. Actually, as said before, these sessions were as important as the shows because they had tremendous appeal as self-improvement for passengers. There was a wide range of behavioral problems from serious to insignificant – alcohol and drugs, language use, sexual desires, personal habits, etc., etc.
By far, however, the topic that came up most often was the desire to stop smoking and Katie had group and private sessions involving post-hypnotic suggestions to break the habit. That was the issue with one Janine Johnson. She and her husband, Sidney, both in their mid-twenties were very concerned about her fairly heavy smoking habit because they were planning to have children soon and smoking while pregnant and around a baby was a not acceptable.
The couple had been volunteers on stage during the show and had responded strongly to being hypnotized, so they had high hopes for success. However, Sidney privately requested an additional programming from Katie. Janine was a very pretty young woman, only about 5' 1", with a very nice figure, particularly her breasts, and had every logical reason to be self-confident in her appearance. Unfortunately, for some youthful family background reasons, that confidence was missing and she just couldn't go out unless her body was well covered. Katie agreed readily to try to help her with both problems, but they would have to do so in private sessions to maintain confidentiality about the issue. Sidney readily agreed to that and they arranged for the sessions to be in Katie and Matt's suite.
That wasn't unusual. They often held private sessions there, particularly when the client's problem was delicate. Katie came into the suite and said, "Hi, honey. I've arranged to have a session here this evening with Janine Johnson. She needs to stop smoking, but her husband wants me to work on raising her self-confidence, although she doesn't know that yet, so I'll do it here."
"Who's Janine Johnson? Should I know?"
Katie laughed, answering, "Oh, you'll remember her! She's the little blonde with the big tits you couldn't take your eyes off of when she was on the stage!"
"Oh, so that's Janine Johnson! What's her problem? Self-confidence? Doesn't make any sense with her figure."
