Mike was one of those guys who you one just never got used to being around. He was loud, obnoxious, irreverent, and overall unpleasant. This was a problem for Tom. His wife Lisa had a best friend named Kali, and Kali was dating Mike. Despite his subtle hints, Lisa kept trying to arrange couples' dates and outings. This would usually leave Lisa and Kali going on and on, while he would sit there and listen to Mike talk about himself.
Were it just for that, he could handle it. It was so much worse. Mike would yell at the waitress in a restaurant. He'd refuse to tip the taxi driver. Two weekends ago, they'd gone to a comedy show in which Mike's heckling was so over the top, that the comic just gave up. The group ultimately had to leave under the glare of the entire crowd.
In light of all this, Tom was not looking forward to tonight. Of all things, Lisa and Kali had somehow secured tickets to a show called "The Great Amadeus." It was supposed to be some combination of magic and hypnosis with "adult themes." This sounded hideously boring at baseline. Yet, with Mike around, it was almost certain to be infinitely worse.
His wife Lisa was an attractive Brunette. Her B cup breasts were just the right size for her body. She was on the shorter side, but not short. Her hair was long, with just the right amount of wave. She was 24 years old, and they'd gotten married about a year before after they finished college. Her friend Kali on the other hand was drop-dead gorgeous. She had platinum blonde hair, full C-cup breasts, and she was just the perfect amount of tall. Kali was always done up. She would sometimes wear fairly short skirts, and sometimes, the occasional peak up those skirts was all that kept Tom going when Mike would go in to one of his rambles.
As they left for the evening, Tom put the car in to drive. Lisa was talking about something related to work. He was nodding as if paying attention, instead of course focusing back and forth on the road and between his own apprehension about the evening. When they arrived at Mike's home, Lisa jumped out of the car before he could say anything. She hugged Kali, who had come out the door with Mike close behind. The two women then jumped in to the back seat together. This of course left the front open for Mike.
"How are ya?" said Tom politely as he backed out of the driveway.
"Man, can you believe this shit," said Mike, almost as if on cue with Tom's worst fears, "a fucking hypnotist huh."
Tom nodded, "well maybe it'll be better than it sounds."
Mike let out an almost inappropriately boisterous laugh. "Oh yeah, it'll be great. Maybe he'll hypnotize my balls."
The girls were already deep in conversation in the back seat, leaving him to fend for himself. Mike went on and on about how magic and hypnosis was stupid. They were all fakes. Only idiots wanted to see them. Tom probably would have agreed with Mike if he hadn't presented his case so obnoxiously. Nevertheless, they were the idiots in the end who had paid to see the show.
They arrived at a small theater downtown. It was set-up like an auditorium, with seats progressively rising away from the stage. Overall, it probably held around 500 people. They sat toward the back. This suited Tom well enough. Of course, Mike was still going on and on at the top of his lungs. Tom noticed obvious glares from other patrons, but this seemed to have no impact.
He put Mike out of his mind to the best of his ability and looked over at the women. Lisa was in a nice pair of jeans, with a low cut crop top. She had a hint of cleavage that looked just right. Kali was in a short skirt and a tight tank top. It looked like she probably wasn't wearing a bra. This would have been one of those outfits that Tom might have enjoyed, except that she was sitting in such a way that he couldn't look without being too obvious.
Mike stopped for a brief moment as Tom looked over. "Hey," he suddenly yelled, "don't look at my girl!"
Both women glared at Tom. Lisa looked just a little bit angry. Tom started to mumble something about getting ready to say something to his own wife when Mike interjected, "Ah, I'm just fucking with you. Kali's in to alpha men." Kali seemed oddly unbothered by this comment, and Tom had the not so subtle feeling that he had just been insulted.
Before he had time to react however, the lights went down. A figure in a top hat and tuxedo walked out on to the stage. He couldn't quite make out specific expressions on his face, but then he noticed a video monitor that hung above the stage, making everything happening crystal clear for the audience.
"Welcome to the show!" the figure boomed out. "I'm your host, The Great Amadeus. Tonight, I will wow and amaze you with magic. Before it's over, I will also hypnotize members of the crowd. I will only involve volunteers, but be prepared to share some private details of your life." Tom rolled his eyes.
The show started, and it was every bit as boring as he feared. The magician would call up volunteers for card tricks and not so incredible sleights of hand. He would intermittently "hypnotize" someone. Tom was pretty sure they were plants in the audience. They'd do things like quack like a duck or sing folk songs. Occasionally someone would give a "confession" about an embarrassing sexual experience.
Tom was pretty sure he'd dozed off a couple of times. Then, his worst fear came true. The Great Amadeus had just finished some trick and was receiving a light applause.
Suddenly, Mike started to speak. "Hey!" he called out far too loudly from the back. "Why are you wasting our time with this bullshit?!" The crowd was completely silent.
"Excuse me," came the reply from Amadeus, "could you repeat that?"
"I SAID!" Mike Screamed, "THIS IS BULLSHIT!" Some audience members gasped. Tom attempted to sink in to his chair, but he couldn't get low enough. He noticed the camera had panned around and was now facing them, projecting them all up on to the large monitor.
Amadeus didn't get upset. "So," he called back to Mike, "Do you doubt my power?"
"What fucking power?" Mike yelled, "The power to put people to sleep."
A smile came across Amadeus' face, "In a way, yes."
Mike shook his head furiously, "I'll bet you couldn't hypnotize me. I'll bet you couldn't hypnotize any of us." Mike swung his hands toward Tom and the girls. Tom sunk even lower, but there he was on the big screen.
"I'll take that bet," said the magician. I'll even up the stakes. I will hypnotize all four of you. In exchange, I will give you each five hundred dollars. That's ten time what you paid to be here tonight. All I ask is that you agree that I own the footage of whatever you do while in the building after this point until the show is over. You'll get the money either way. If I can't hypnotize you, then you'll have nothing lost. You also cannot hold me liable for anything that you do from this point forward."
"Where's my money!?" screamed Mike.
"I'll take acceptance of the cash by each of you as an agreement to the deal," replied Amadeus.