"My name is Elmer J. Fudd, millionaire. I own a mansion and a yacht."
"Again."
"My name is Elmer J. Fudd, millionaire. I own a mansion and a yacht."
"Again."
Believe it or not, watching that cartoon when I was eleven was what started it all. I asked my dad, "Can you really get people to believe things just by making them repeat it?"
My dad chuckled at the question, "Sometimes, Paul. A lot of people use that technique to try and change things about themselves, give themselves confidence and stuff. But repeating that you're a millionaire won't make you one." He winked at me.
"How do I become a millionaire, dad?"
"Hard work and ambition or win the lottery." He laughed.
"What about if I want Billy to stop teasing me? Do I just repeat, 'You don't like to tease Paul' to him?"
"No, son, say that and he'll probably try and beat you up."
Billy had beaten me up a couple times but I never told my dad. And he wasn't the only one that teased me. I was the target of lots of kids, being so small and skinny with big glasses. Also, my parents weren't really "in fashion" when it came to buying my clothes.
My dad continued, "He'd have to repeat it to himself or" he paused, his mind running ideas around, "you could play a tape of it while he slept and hope it sunk in."
"Really? I could do that?!"
My dad laughed again. "Probably not. I don't see how you could get him to agree to that! No, the best way to make him stop teasing you is to earn his respect."
Dad then started talking about different ways to do just that but I was stuck on the tape concept. Within a few days I was researching the whole concept. I spent hours in the library reading up on subliminal programming, hypnosis, self-affirmations, anything I could find. A lot of it was way over my head (I was eleven!) but I was learning. And then the next pivotal event of my life occurred. We went to party held by dad's work and they had a hypnotist there. He took lots of people from the audience and put them under. It was amazing. He made them dance and cluck like chickens, think they were in a beauty pageant (even the guys) and WWF wrestlers. I noticed that of the twenty or so volunteers only eight ended up being hypnotized. I asked my dad about that and he said that some people can't be hypnotized and some of them didn't really want to be.
"You
HAVE
to want to be?" I asked, "But what about those tv shows where-"
"Those are just shows, son. They're make-believe."
I went through the hypnosis books again. Reliving the performance again and again, working on my technique in front of the mirror. It was months before I thought I was ready.
The school year was ending, it was June and warm and we were at lunch outside. I was talking with a few of my friends and told them I knew hypnosis. Of course they didn't believe me so I said I could prove it. I said "Let's go the field and you guys lie down on the grass and I'll hypnotize you."
"And make us do what?" Tommy asked.
"Hmmmm," I said pretending to think about it. "How about I make you stronger?"
"What?" Ralph said, "You can't make someone stronger!"
"Yes, you can!" I argued, "I read that people don't use all of their strength normally. Only when they're really stressed they tap into it. Kinda like the hulk only you don't get bigger and green."
"No way! Really?!"
"Uh huh. And I can use hypnosis so that instead of only being stronger when you're stressed you can call it up whenever you like. Let's see Billy push you around after that!"
I had no idea if there was any truth to that but I had confirmed that what dad said was right. People had to want to be hypnotized. So I was giving them a reason for the want. So soon we were on the field and they were all lying down and I went through the preliminaries with them. As I was starting, some more kids walked by and asked what was going on. With twenty minutes left during lunch hour I had thirty kids lying on the grass and about as many watching. I went through the routine similar to the show I had seen. As people started to relax and close their eyes, either because they were going under or because they were playing along, I told them that their right arm was feeling very light. As I continued I pulled out the ones I saw opening their eyes and peaking, and others that it obviously wasn't working on. Now, the kids had no idea why I said their arms felt light (or so I hoped) and soon the ones that were under were lifting that arm skyward. There were giggles from the crowd and I hushed them. Soon I had nine of them going through the same routine as the hypnotist I had seen did. The other kids laughed and cheered them on. And then the lunch bell rang.
The rest of the afternoon the class was a chatter with what had happened. I was stopped after school by several people who wanted me to hypnotize them and I said I'd do another show at lunch the next day and so I did; hypnotizing a few new ones and several of the original. My plan was to eventually get to the kids that picked on me and make them stop. It worked, but not in the way I had planned. My new show made me the most popular kid in the class. Billy and the others even asked me to make some of the girls kiss them. When I had the targeted girls under my spell, Billy jumped in and started to give them orders. In the state they were, some obeyed and took off their clothes. Now we were eleven so the show wasn't all that spectacular, but losing control like that to Billy and seeing what could happen made me start to take precautions. I from then on told each subject that they would only obey my voice when under and gave them all a trigger word to bring them under and out again. Well, it was a trigger name actually: Elmer J. Fudd. And it only worked when I said it and touched them. By the end of the year I had pretty much the whole class under my control and kids from several other years. I was kinds surprised the teachers didn't do anything but they figured it was just kid stuff and would blow over, over the summer. It pretty much did too.
The next year we began junior high. You know it. It's where you go from being the top of the rung in grade school to the bottom again. Well, I focused more on school and fun than hypnosis. I knew trying to mimic the event on the field wouldn't really work here so I just used my new-found popularity with my old classmates to help launch me into cool groups with the new students. It didn't work out as planned since the new older students still saw me as a skinny geeky kid with glasses. It looked like my fifteen minutes of fame were up. I was so upset that my subjects couldn't catapult my popularity that my interest in them faded as well. A few years went by and I started to focus more and more on what most boys my age focused on: girls. By the time I was eighteen I wanted to lose my virginity pretty badly. All the other guys had. Well, they said they had. There were so many beautiful girls in my school too. I had a few that were interested in me but they were more geeky than I was and I wanted my first time to be with some special, like a cheerleader.
One afternoon as I was coming out of the A.V. room after school (yes I was an A.V. geek) I saw Becky Robinson returning from cheerleading practice. I'd known Becky forever (though I doubt she still remembered me) and she had blossomed into a hot little number: Curly blonde locks, c-cup breasts, which seemed much bigger on her 5'3" body, a beautiful face that went more the way of Drew Barrymore in its sweetness and hazel eyes that seemed to sparkle. Something went off in my mind and I rushed and caught up with her.
"Becky?"
"Oh hey, Paul." She was nice to me but I saw her glance around to see if anyone was near. I figured she didn't want to be seen talking to one of the geeks.
"I have to ask you about someone." I said
She smiled a devilish smile. She figured I was going to ask about one of the cheerleaders. I knew she was already getting to ready to gossip about who I liked. I took her hand and said, "Elmer J. Fudd."
I watched her eyes sort of glaze over. The trigger was still there!
"Come with me, Becky." I said and she obediently followed.
I led her back to the A.V. room and closed and locked the door.
I sat her down in front of me. "Do you like to gossip, Becky?" I asked.
"I love it." she replied
"Today you're going to gossip about you ok?"
"Ok"
"Are you a virgin?"
"I can't tell you that!"
"Why not?"
"It's none of your business!"
"Who would you tell, if they asked?"
"Tina. She's my best friend. And-"
"Ok, Becky" I stopped her. "Until you here the word orange, although you hear my voice I am not here with you. Tina is. And the questions I am asking, Tina is really asking. Got it?"
