The Hypnotist is story number thirty-eight in the #52ShortStories challenge.
**SPOILERS BELOW. If you have not read the story and want to be (hopefully) surprised, come back to this when you’re done.**
Every year during my junior high and high school days, I would spend an evening at the local county fair. There were the conniving carnival games, my favorite ride–the Gravitron, and those shiny, red, tooth-decay-inducing candy apples. But my favorite thing was to watch the hypnotist. He would perform on an outdoor stage and would call volunteers up, lulling them into a super-relaxed state where they were duped into performing ballet and singing at the top of their lungs, all for the audience’s amusement. I’m not sure why the memory popped into my head recently, but it’s always been simmering on the backburner.
I felt the hypnotist could make a pretty entertaining protagonist and would find many uses for his bag o’ tricks. Hopefully, you felt the same upon reading!
Here’s the general scratch file:
- The Hypnotist scratch file
And the daily journal entries:
- Thursday, May 10th
- Friday, May 11th
- Saturday, May 12th – Missed
- Sunday, May 13th – Missed
- Monday, May 14th
- Tuesday, May 15th
- Wednesday, May 16th
-Phillip
I still enjoy seeing hypnotist shows. They often have a performances on cruise ships. But I’d never dare go up there. ?
Haha, yes, I still get a kick out of them too. I actually went on stage for one during my high school years, but I never fell under. I think I was too nervous to let myself be ‘mind controlled’. 😉 Happy Friday, Carrie!
I’ve always been fascinated by hypnotists, Phillips. I’d never be brave enough to go on stage…I might reveal too many “deep dark secrets”…lol!
Haha! Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t volunteer on stage nowadays. ?