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The two of them spun around to address their approaching inquisitors. Kathy looked uncomfortable, for obvious reasons, but Gina looked like she was well prepared to spill the beans about all this hypnotism jive.
“Nothing, nothing,” spilled Kathy. “We were just talking about.. the weather, that’s all.”
Jane and Belinda both looked at each other with classic Doubting Thomas expressions. Did Kathy really think they were that gullible?
“Okay, well, now you really blew it, Kath.. Somehow, I don’t think Gina wants to hear all about the weather.. She can just stick her tiny head out the window,” said Jane.
Kathy couldn’t believe she had said something so insipid and neither could Gina. They looked at each other in anticipation of who would go first.
“Come on, come on, let’s hear it,” demanded Belinda. “What are you guys talkin’ about?”
“You wanna tell em?” asked Gina.
“No, no, you go ahead,” said Kathy. “You were so eager to find out about everything.. you tell em.”
Everyone waited with oogey interest for the story to begin.
“It seems that,” Gina began. “Our beloved, corporate leader.. and possible EX band member.. has taken it upon herself to have Kathy here… professionally hypnotized.”
Jane and Belinda instantly developed confused looks on their faces. This was a new one. Even for The Go-Go’s.
“For what reasons,” continued Gina. “Remains to be seen… She hasn’t told me that yet,” said Gina, gesturing towards Kathy.
Everyone remained silent. Kathy was more than willing to hear Gina continue. She was curious to hear Gina’s hypothesis of the whole situation. She raised her eyebrows and didn’t say a thing.
“One can only assume.. that she did it to put poor Kathy here.. underneath her spell… So that Kathy can be her corporate stooge… And do anything that she wants her to do,” explained Gina, strutting around like a district attorney. “Does that sound about right, Kath?”
“It does now,” lamented Kathy. “But, that’s not how it started.”
“Well, perhaps you’d like to take over and tell us all how everything did indeed get started,” said Gina, as she gestured for Kathy to take center stage.
Kathy smiled at Gina’s theatrics. She was always impressed when Geenie-Weenie performed.
“I’d be glad to, my dear,” said Kathy. “And thank you for that most auspicious introduction.”
“My pleasure,” said Gina.
Everyone smiled confidentially. Generally speaking, they were all well aware of how demented their lives were; Even in the most dire of situations.
Kathy took over where Gina left off. She was now the defense attorney.
“Charlotte… at some point… got this crazy idea in her head… that she could cure her schizophrenia… or Dual Identity Disorder, as it is clinically known… through means of hypnosis,” explained Kathy. “Now.. how she got this idea, I’ll never know… But.. at some point.. she apparently discussed all of this.. with our resident witchy friend, Insufferable German.”
A universal groan was instantly heard from the other three girls, as they all threw up their hands in complete understanding. They all knew what a clever girl Suffy was, and that she would try almost anything to stick her nose further into show-business. She was like Daffy Duck in that sense; always tired of Bugs Bunny upstaging him.
“Well, that explains it,” said Jane. “She took advice from one of my friends. That’s always a mistake.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Belinda interjected. “I think we’re all being a little naive here… Charlotte would never do anything like that.. She would only take advice from her doctors, not from Suffy.. Are you all forgetting that she’s a bit of a hypochondriac? There’s got to be more to it than that.”
“What do you mean?” asked Gina.
“I’m saying that Suffy’s probably got herself mixed up in this more than she’s letting on… Are you sure about this, Kathy? You sure she seeked advice from the screaming siren?”
“Hey, I never said she took all of her advice only from Suffy… If you’d let me continue, I’d tell you that the main reason she got involved is because Charlotte came to her in search of a hypnotist, end of story… She did listen to her doctors and is listening to her doctors, of course, she is… She’s taking the prescribed medicine… But that medicine only helps to a certain degree… You gotta’ understand.. the woman was desperate… The poor thing was aching for a cure.”
Kathy’s words left everyone speechless. Even Belinda felt some sympathy for the woman who was doing such dastardly deeds.
“Look… I know we’re all mad at her for what she’s done,” Kathy began.
“Ya’ think?” added Belinda.
“But the poor thing is sick,” continued Kathy. “She needs our help.. and she needs our support… She’s in agony, guys. Let’s try to remember that.”
After several moments of contemplation, Jane spoke up—
“Do you mind if we get back to the fun part of the story? How the fuck did you get hypnotized, Kath? What? Were you sitting too close to Charlotte when the guy was waving the watch?”
Everyone eagerly awaited Kathy’s response.
“No.. I just said I would participate… as a favor to Charlotte.”
“A favor to Charlotte?!” said Jane. “What kinda’ favor is that? Why would she want you to participate? So she could make you start flapping your arms and baulking like a chicken for her enjoyment?”
“I don’t know,” said Kathy. “She just said it would make her feel more comfortable if I did it with her… Ya’ know, for support.”
“Eh, I don’t know about that one,” said Belinda. “Sounds suspicious to me.. I think ol’ Char’s got something up her sleeve.”
“So do I,” added Gina.
“Well, whatever,” Kathy summed-up, throwing up her hands. “I don’t feel any different… In fact, I felt terrific right after it happened.. I felt refreshed and full of energy… I don’t know what she could have possibly done… I don’t know what she could possibly want from me.”
Jane saw a perfect opportunity to jump in head first.
“Kathy, let me ask you something… Have you woken up any of these mornings lately.. and felt like your butthole has been violated?”
Gina was too overwhelmed to respond right away, but Belinda laughed so hard, she didn’t make a sound until she snorted.
“Charlotte’s not into that shit!” Kathy rebutted “She wouldn’t do something like that!”
“I know she’s not… But maybe she did it for someone else’s satisfaction,” considered Jane.
Belinda was still unavailable for comment as she fell to her knees and supported herself with the edge of the table.
“Oh, gimme a break, Jane… You’re really barkin’ up the wrong tree, ya’ know,” said Kathy, amongst the merriment.
“Okay, I’m sorry,” said Jane. “I’m just tryin’ to cover all my bases here.”
“Well, you can forget about that one,” insisted Kathy. “I’m sure it was not done for any kind of sexual shenanigans.”
No one had anything to say about Jane’s inquiry. Especially Belinda, who was still snorting.
“Well, why do you think she did it?” asked Gina. “Seriously?”
“I have no idea,” Kathy lamented. “I guess we’ll have to ask her the next time we see her.”
Copyright 2025
by Clark Wright