A moment later, the door opened. Standing in front of him on the other side of the screen door was Nadine. And just as she was conditioned to do upon seeing him, she opened the screen door and let him inside her house.
"Is Tina here?" the old man asked. He'd rather her not be. He only intended on conditioning Nadine.
"Uh, who are you?" Nadine asked, confused as to why she let this stranger into her house.
"Tina ... your friend. Is she here?" the old man asked again.
"No. She was, but she had to go home to get something. She'll be back soon. Now, if you don't mind, tell me who you are," she demanded.
He set down his briefcase on a nearby table, then opened it. He pulled out his schedule, but also the spray bottle, making sure to keep it behind his back. He turned and made it look like he was there for professional reasons (holding a bunch of documents attached to a clipboard apparently conveyed that idea), then when her guard was down, he sprayed her with the bottle. He was close enough to catch her from collapsing to the floor, fortunately, then he moved her to the living room sofa.
Tina's going to be back soon, eh? the old man thought. Better make this quick then. He shook his head. This is why he didn't do favors to people off the street. There just wasn't any planning involved.
"Nadine, sit up," he told the girl. And she complied. He sat down across from her. "Can you hear me?"
"Yes," she said dreamily.
"Good. Now, Nadine, you will not remember that we had this conversation. But you will remember everything that I tell you to do. And you will follow all of my commands. But you will believe that everything I command of you is coming from yourself. You will believe that everything I tell you to do are your own thoughts, feelings and desires. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Good girl." He paused. "You are in a dream. And, when you come out of it, you will have a whole new outlook on life. Tell me you would like that."
"I would like that." The response was slurred, almost incoherent.
"Do you know a girl named Athena?"
"Yes," she said, a look of disgust flashing across her face.
"I can tell that you don't like her."
"She's a sinner. And more than that, she's a witch. It's so disgusting that someone like that goes to the same school as me. I don't just not like her. I hate her."
"But you're a Baptist, right? A good Christian girl. Aren't you supposed to show people love, not hate?" Remembering back to that morning, the old man realized that this was almost like the conditioning he gave Nadine's mother.
"Well ... yeah. But ... not her."
"Why not?"
"She's a witch. She doesn't deserve my love. She's evil."
"Maybe you only think that because you don't know much about her," the old man said.
"What difference would that make?" Nadine asked.
"You might see that she's not as bad as you think."
"I doubt that," she said.
Not for long, the old man thought.
"Now, Nadine, I want you to answer every question I ask you by saying 'YES'. And I want you to believe that 'YES' is the right answer to every question. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Good. You're a good Baptist girl and good girls like you want to eliminate evil, right?"
"Yes," she said confidently.
"If what you say is true about Athena, that she's a witch, then that means that you must eliminate the evil within her. Right?"
"Yes."
"But you can't do that if you don't understand what makes her evil. You must do research. You must learn as much as you can about witchcraft to be able to eliminate Athena's evil, right?"
"Yes," she said. Apparently, the logic was making sense to her.
"But as you research witchcraft, you slowly realize that there's nothing wrong with it. You'll realize that the witchcraft itself isn't what's evil, it's how it is used. You will want to confront Athena to see whether she uses it for good or evil. No matter what she tells you, you will believe that she's using it for good. Understand?" The old man didn't really know Athena that well, so he wasn't sure what kind of person she was. Although, she did help him when those thugs tried to steal from him.
"Y-yes," Nadine said, sounding a bit hesitant.
"When you discover that Athena is a good witch, you will apologize to her, telling her that you were wrong to curse at her. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"After that, you will want to become her friend, because she's a good witch and uses her magic to help others. Correct?" The old man didn't believe in magic, only science, but it was safe to say that Athena might have believed in it, and maybe even believed that she was using it. (If only the old man knew that it was magic that caused him to have so many clients that day.)
"Yes," she said.
That was enough for today.
"Good. Now, I want you to rest here. You will begin to come out of your dream in a few minutes. You will awaken and feel happy, rested and ready to begin your new life. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
The old man gathered his stuff and left the house, then headed back to his car.
About a minute later, Tina came back to find Nadine sleeping on the sofa. It was odd. She didn't seem tired when she left. But she shrugged it off. Maybe she just decided to have a nap, to get rested up for the Bible study later.
