chapter 2

The first time Stephanie put her husband under her hypnotic spell, he was watching a drama that he was not particularly interested in on the telly. He might be aware that he was missing some time, but he knew he would simply assume that he was tired and had fallen asleep.
She was as subtle as she could be. Once he was under her spell, she got him to count up to ten, but miss the seven out. When she was convinced she had him under and he was not pretending, she told him what she wanted him to do.
Every Sunday morning, he would weigh himself before he went in the shower. As he got ready, he would spend somewhere between twenty minutes and half an hour admiring himself in the mirror.
She considered it would not be too difficult a task for him. She’d known him check himself out in a full length mirror for long periods before, so it was not new.
She told him she was going to count down from 5 to 1. When she reached 1, he would wake up as if nothing had happened.
She brought him back to his senses without a hitch. He was none the wiser. She did not comment when he said he must have nodded off because he was so tired. He yawned, stretched out, then got up to make a cup of tea.

On Sunday morning, Steph got up early and stayed out of Carl’s way, but she did eaves drop on him once or twice as she gathered up the week’s washing.
The first time she listened in, she could see him between the hinges of the open door. He was standing looking at himself in a full length mirror with only his underpants on. He admired his muscular, tanned pecs and flat stomach. He slapped his non-existent belly gently and smiled at how it did not move. He breathed in, hollowing out his stomach and saw how that looked. Then he turned to one side, checking out his body profile. Then he turned his back to the mirror, twisting so that he could see his firm, rounded bum. He slapped that too, admiring the tiny wobble it gave at his touch. He rubbed his hands up and down his whole torso. He was so gorgeous! It was a wonder and girl could keep their hands off him!
Steph left him to gloat. She returned when the next load of washing was due. Carl was now fully dressed, but he was still standing in front of the mirror, admiring his two tone hair and dark eyebrows, his blue eyes, his smoothly shaved chin and everything else.

Stephanie did nothing more for another six weeks. Every Sunday morning in that time he stood in front of the mirror and told himself how good he looked for up to half an hour.
He decided he would stop shaving his head and allow his hair to grow back in. He might even grow it long. The girls liked a man with long hair. Maybe he would look even more stunning than he already did! He even bought himself a cheap ladies’ wig. He put it on and practiced flipping his hair back and out of the way, while watching himself in the mirror.
Still, he did not suspect anything. It was time for the next stage...

Again, she waited until he was half dozing anyway, then she hypnotised him. This time, she told him he would buy and eat one Mars bar a day, every day. Five, four, three, two, one, he was awake. There! That was a nice simple one!
As the week progressed, she could not tell if he was actually doing what she had told him to, but she had confidence in her powers. A fortnight or so later, she spied some discarded empty Mars bar wrappers on the floor of his work truck. There was no sign of the nougat, caramel and chocolate confection themselves. She knew he was complying. Unfortunately it had not had any impact on his body. He simply worked too damn hard! A significant impact would take time and several more tweaks. He was due the next one now.

Again, she kept it simple. Every mealtime, he would not notice the quantities on his plate. He would simply eat until the plate was empty. He would still see the food on his plate. He might comment on it’s taste, but he would not realise how much he was eating. Five, four, three, two, one, he was awake!
For his first meal after she’d given him her new instructions, she was careful not to overdo it. An extra half a spoonful of new potatoes was all she gave him, but added more butter on top.
Carl tucked in as usual. He did not comment on the portion size, and ate everything that was there.
Every meal he ate at home after that, she gave him a little bit extra. After three weeks of that kind of treatment, on Sunday morning, she heard him wailing from the bathroom. She knocked on the door to show some concern.
“I’ve put two pounds on in the last week!” He exclaimed. “I don’t understand it!”
Stephanie assured him the extra pounds were not noticeable. Two pounds was nothing. It could be fluid weight. Was his constipated? He could lose two pounds by opening his bowels properly. There were all kinds of reasons to put a couple of pounds on. No doubt, the would be back to normal next week. He didn’t have to change anything. He would be fine. An extra two pounds did not make him fat!
She left the room and closed the door behind her. She gave a wry smile to herself. Two pounds was not much, but it was a start! All she had to do was keep ramping up the pressure. He would not be able to cheat on her when he got fat, because nobody else would have him!

The extra two pounds did not come off the next week, or the week after. Indeed, he had put on another pound! Carl was horrified! He could not understand it. Maybe it was all of the chocolate bars he was consuming every day. He had tried to stop eating them, but it was a habit that was proving difficult to break. Maybe he was not getting enough exercise as he was growing older. He joined the local gym and started working out three times a week.
It did not last long. One of Stephanie’s weekly tweaks was for him to ‘forget’ to go to the gym. Instead of eating one Mars bar every day, he would eat two... or three, depending how hungry he was.
Gradually she increased the portion size of his meals at home, until he was consuming double a normal portion. He still had not noticed. He still thought he looked gorgeous!