There have been fantasies for hundreds of years about what can be done through hypnosis - especially erotic fantasies, especially of a man taking absolute control of the minds of dozens of young and nubile women.
This is nonsense.
And yet...
The modern belief is that a person cannot be hypnotized into doing a thing which they would object to doing if not hypnotized. There are three problems with that; first is the possibility that someone could be gradually conditioned into doing a thing which they would not do if presented with it as an immediate order. Second is that there is evidence it is not true at all, but a superstition put forward as self-serving propaganda by hypnotic practitioners. Third is the question of just what a particular person would do...
*****
I had been getting to know Tina Reilly for some time now. Not by talking to her as much as asking about her, and asking the women in my office who knew and gossiped about everybody. If those women took from that the idea that is was interested in getting to know Tina better, and dating her, well, that was the truth as far as it went. She was not much younger than I, so the women got the added thrill of maybe being matchmakers.
I knew that she was not attached, or not very. She had not long ago broken up with a boyfriend (and had not really been serious with him) and dated a couple of men off and on. She was Irish Catholic, and was brought up north of here, staying after going to school in the city.
As with most offices, the place is fairly empty just before and after holidays, with people taking long weekends. Our computers are networked in such a way that everyone can see when anyone will be taking leave. So when I saw that Tina was going to be there the Friday before Columbus Day, I did not put in for it.
That meant that of the twelve or so of us, only three were there that day. The third was an older man who left his desk a lot for bathroom breaks but not much otherwise.
I had noted that Tina went to the breakroom for coffee around ten, so after walking by her desk to see that she was there, I went in five minutes before ten. As she walked in, I was standing by the coffeepot.
I asked if I could fix her a cup, and she hesitated, then said yes. I handed it to her with a mild hypnotic added, obtained through a chemist I knew of who dealt in such things under the table. I tried to talk to her pleasantly, but in general acted no differently than usual.
At lunchtime, I stopped her and spoke to her as she came back, walking her to my cubicle on the pretext of discussing a problem. (Hers was near that of Martinson, the older man.)
When she sat in my extra chair, I put her under.
"On a scale of zero to ten, with zero being having no particular reaction to me and with ten being that you regard any of my words or wishes as equivalent to direct messages from God Almighty, you will, beginning next Monday go one number higher each week in your attitude to me and attraction to me. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand."
"If at any time in the future I say to you "miraculous" three times in a row, you will maintain whatever level of affection you have reached. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand."
Then I told her that if at any time I said to her a certain other word three times she would go back to whatever level of affection she had toward me before that day, and regard any change there had been as a passing phase. I asked her if she understood.
"Yes, I understand."
"That's great Tina. That's all I needed."
"Sure," she said. She smiled and went back to her cube.
I spent the next two weeks being conspicuously nice to Tina, and on the next Friday I asked her for a date. She smiled nicely, but said that she was busy.
"Ask me next week," the tall redhead said. "I do kind of like you."
The third week I acted the same way, and on Thursday I asked her again. She said, "I am busy on Friday, but maybe Saturday?"
That was fine with me, and I tried my best to make Saturday evening fine for her. I made a point of not trying to kiss her, but I did ask about a date next Friday.
She agreed. The next Wednesday, I mentioned to her an art exhibit which I had been told would interest her, and asked if she wanted to go on Saturday afternoon with me. She was enthusiastic. Tina shyly added that if I was willing and available, she would like to fix dinner for the two of us and sit and talk in her apartment that evening.
I don't think I need to say that I liked the idea.
That day and the next and Friday Tina found an amazing number of reasons to stop by my desk. The movie on Friday evening was so-so, but the dinner before was very good and when we stopped at the door of her place she turned her face with its bright green eyes up to me for a goodnight kiss and I bent down. It was nice, and better still was the fact that her lips trembled to show that she was on the edge of opening her mouth. I think if I had tried to, I could have tipped her over easily, but I did not. I think that women are much happier if such decisions are all their own - as far as they know.
The exhibit was one that Tina enjoyed thoroughly, the dinner was one I that I liked just as much, and afterward... The conversation was bright and lively, we learned a great deal about each other, and we shared our first kiss of the evening only a few minutes after sitting on her couch. Her mouth trembled even more, but I made no move to open it.
Our second one was over an hour later, after nine at night, and this time I saw her teeth and tongue before our lips touched. Her tongue was agile at wrapping around mine, and I explored the inside of her mouth for a long time, until we broke away breathless. I held her for a while, and our conversation was interrupted frequently thereafter by kisses and caresses and times when she got up to let her passions cool.