John Smith was a forty-two year old flight instructor with a small, but

popular flight training centre-popular because most of the students at the

busy little school were his. He worked for the school on a contract basis,

taking an initial trial introductory prospective for their first interview,

aptitude test, and short airborne coordination flight to ascertain whether

or not they had two left feet. And the prospective student always came

back and enrolled in a flying course for their private pilot licence. But

that was always a foregone conclusion as far as John was concerned.

His employer wondered and often asked how he did it, but John would

always just smile and tell him he was having a good-hair day again, and

leave it at that. What seemed even stranger to John’s employer, as well as

the other flight instructors was that John had never yet succeeded in

signing up any male students, of which he had plenty of prospects supplied.

It seemed to everyone who was interested enough to notice, that all of

John’s students, were women.

And now, at one-thirty on a Friday afternoon he had another one. She

was a thirtynine year old housewife who had always wanted to fly, but with

raising kids and looking after her household, had never had the chance or

the finances to pursue her dream. She came to the school to see if they

thought she had the aptitude to succeed. Not wanting to lose a prospective

customer, the manager had given her to John, as he did with most of the

female applicants, unless John wasn’t available.

John had taken her into the interview room and had closed the door,

hanging out the ‘Do not disturb’ sign on the knob on the outside, and

discreetly turning his back after he’d closed it and flicking the snib lock

to ‘up’, and actually locking the door from the inside. He didn’t want any

interruptions during the ‘interview’ process. John wasn’t an evil or a bad

person. He just liked to have some fun, without anybody ever getting hurt,

and, with him, nobody ever did, nor did they ever complain or fail to

achieve the pilot licence.

He walked over and picked up his special model aircraft and placed it on

the desk in front of the smiling woman, noticing she looked excited,

although a little bit nervous. He smiled warmly at her, observing a little

of the tension leave her face immediately. Then he sat down across the

desk from her and smiled once again.

“Tell me a little of yourself.” he said to her, their formal

introductions having already been dispensed with at the front counter. The

woman named Sandy Robinson smiled a halfsmile back at him as he settled

back to listen to how much of herself she was going to display.

“Well.” she began. “I’m a house wife, or I was, rather. I’m divorced

now. Twelve months ago, actually. I have two children, sixteen and

eighteen, a boy and a girl. And I now have the time to learn to

fly-something I’ve always wanted to do fro as long as I can remember, but

you know how it is-family and husband and all that.”

John watched her shrug when she said the word, ‘husband.’ He thought her

husband must have been a fool to let her go, or maybe she let him go. No

matter, he decided. He’d find out in the fullness of time. He always did,

and they always told him-everything. He smiled at her, not saying

anything, just waiting for her to say everything she’d planned on saying.

When he didn’t speak she drew breath to continue.

“When I looked up all the flying schools in the book,” she went on.

“Yours was the only one who advertised some type of assessment as to

whether prospective students were even capable of learning. So I figured

you must be an honest school because of that.”

John smiled genuinely. “Thank you, Sandy.” he said, and then went

silent again. He could tell she wasn’t yet finished what she had planned

to say. The negativity should come next, if predictability ran true to

form, which it usually did.

“I’m really not sure if I can do it.” she began again. “I was never any

good at maths at school. Wasn’t interested in it really. But I’m hoping

if I show that I’m keen enough, maybe you’ll be able to teach me what I

have to learn and know. But I haven’t studied for years. I wouldn’t even

know how to now.”

John maintained his polite smile in a fixed position on his face. She

should be just about done, except for the final question they always asked.

He waited patiently while she waited for him to speak. He said nothing.

“Do you think I could learn, and get my pilot licence?” she said after

realising he wasn’t going to say anything else.

That was it, John concluded. This was the point where they wanted him

to speak. They’d said their piece and were always grateful unknowingly for

him allowing to talk uninterrupted, until they reached that exact point in

time that she’d reached right now as she looked open-eyed at him

expectantly, as if he had the answer to all of life’s problems for them.

He drew breath to speak, noticing her settle back a little more into her

chair when she saw him getting ready to speak. He smiled warmly at her.

“Sandy,” he began, getting her used to his familiarity from the

beginning. “Anybody can do anything they want to, if they really want to.

The fact that you haven’t studied for a long time, and that you never liked

maths much doesn’t really come into it at all.”

He saw the relief begin around her mouth as it relaxed into a hopeful

smile at hearing the words she had been hoping he would say.

“All that really matters to you is that you really want to commit just a

little of your serious, quality time to achieving your dream, and then

everything will happen, just as you want it to.” he told her genuinely.

Now he waited for the next question they always asked at t his point. So

he stopped talking and again invoked his patience.

“Do I have a choice in my instructors?” Sandy asked right on cue.

John smiled. “Of course you do.” he told her. “Did you have anybody in

mind?”

Sandy looked down at the model plane on the desk for a few seconds. She

wondered if he would think her forward, then decided what the hell and said

it anyway.

“Would you be available to teach me?” she said with a smile. “I think I

could learn from you. And I don’t want to be thought of or treated just

like a dollar. Besides, you’re more my age. I think I’d feel more

comfortable with you.”

John smiled at the predictability of the average prospective student in

his profession. “Yes.” he answered her, seeing her smile broaden

instantly. “But first I have to complete an assessment report on your

coordination.”

Sandy felt her smile vanish without her control. She hated tests.

“Don’t look so worried.” John reassured her immediately. “I’ll help you

and then let you know how you went before we even leave this room. After

all, that was the main reason you selected us. Wasn’t it?”

Sandy felt relieved again. She had chosen well in selecting this school

and meeting him. He seemed really professional and friendly-just the sort

of teacher she had always wanted at school, but never managed to be lucky

enough to get. It was probably why she never really did very well, she

figured as she watched him politely watching her. She nodded in answer to

his question.

John leaned over and picked up the model aircraft off the desk and held

it up in front of his chin. It was a single engine model of a world war

two spitfire-an exact replica. But it was more than that. It had a larger

than normal propellor that actually turned. There was a tiny button

underneath the belly of the model. When it was pressed, a small battery

inside the fuselage of the model activated the propellor and it would spin

at a rate especially selected by John, expressly for the purposes of

holding the concentration of anyone who happened to be looking at it. The

propellor itself had been painted with an especially designed spiral of

luminescent paint that glowed in the dark, thereby enhancing the hypnotic

effect of the spinning hypnotic spiralling propellor in the mind and

consciousness of the observer.

“This is a model aircraft, as you can see, Sandy.” John told her,

flicking the propellor with his finger and spinning it a little. “You will

be starting off in a single engine plane similar in the number of engines

as this one. What we’re going to do now is to just check on the strength

of your ability to concentrate and relax at the same time. I’m going to

turn off the light so you can really do your best.”

John paused for a moment and flicked the propellor, making it spin again

until it would down, giving Sandy a chance to experience a little of what

she would seen experience in full.

” In the future,” he continued. “you’ll want to learn how to fly at

night, and testing your ability to relax and concentrate at the same time

in the dark is the best way to find out if you’ve really got what it takes

to relax and concentrate at the same time. That’s why our students always

pass their final flight test on their first attempt. I’ll turn on the

small desk lamp over there in the corner in a moment, so we can see what

we’re doing, but generally, it will be fairly dark, except for the

propellor of the aircraft. It will be spinning and you’ll always be able

to see that quite clearly, and hear the sound of my voice. All I want you

to do is to follow the sound of my voice as if I was your co-pilot and

telling you instructions on what to do, just like I really will be doing

when you fly off on your first solo flight. How does all this sound so

far?”

Sandy was beside herself. It was all so exciting. And he was already

talking of her first solo. Her pulse quickened a little and she could feel

the excitement building as her heart began to hammer against her ribs.

John got up and walked over to the desk lamp well behind where Sandy was

sitting and turned it on. Then he walked tot he door and turned off the

overhead flourescent light. The room was immediately plunged into almost

darkness, except from the dull glow of the desk lamp throwing off a small

ray of light that John had purposely directed at the floor. Then he walked

back to where Sandy was sitting and stood sat down in a chair beside her,

reaching across the table and picking up the model aircraft. He placed it

down immediately in front of her.

“Now, Sandy.” he said. “I’m going to ask you to watch the spinning

propellor and concentrate on relaxing and nothing else while you listen to

the sound of my voice. Any other sounds you may hear you can just let go

and ignore, just like you would in flight. If you find your thoughts

wandering, just bring them gently back to the centre of the propellor and

back to relaxing all over while you listen to the sound of my voice. It

may seem at times like you feel like you’re drifting off, but that’s okay.

That’s when you’ll know you’re really succeeding in the assessment. The

aim of this mission is to see how much you can relax and concentrate on

nothing but relaxing while you listen to the sound of my voice as I speak

to you and guide you with my instructions.”

Sandy was hanging on every word he said. Her heart thumped with

adrenalin as she listened. The darkness didn’t bother her in the

slightest. This was obviously the way they did these kind of tests.

Besides, everything John had said made complete sense so far.

John pressed the switch beneath the model aircraft’s belly. The

propellor began spinning at the pre-set rate instantly, and the

brightly-glowing spiral spun endlessly toward the centre, yet never

actually reaching it. He looked at Sandy, rather than the propellor. He

knew how powerful an effect it could have and didn’t want to get caught up

in it himself.

“Just watch the propellor … and … relax into the spiral” he softly

guided her. “Your mind …should be feeling … the relaxing effect …

already becoming calm and peaceful … Just allow yourself to … go with

it completely and … let go … Don’t try to make anything happen …

and … don’t try to stop anything from happening … Just allow

everything to happen … naturally … just as … it wants to … and

… let yourself go … completely relaxed …and calm … and

peacefully … letting go of … every thought … in your mind …

except how good it feels to … relax … and … let go … so

completely.”

John watched closely in the semi-darkness as Sandy’s eyes blinked more

and more slowly until finally they closed gently down and shut. Her head

lolled forward a little. Her shoulders sagged.

Sandy didn’t know what was happening to her and she didn’t really care.

John’s soothing, slow voice sounded so relaxing. He really was helping her

to relax. Which meant he was actually helping her with the assessment.

She wondered if he was this helpful with everyone on their first

assessment.

“Relax deeply … into whatever you’re feeling … right now…and go

deeper … even more.” John guided her. “Just allow the propellor to …

do its work and … help you to relax.”

The glowing spiral was pulling her into the centre and there didn’t seem

to be a thing she could do about it, nor did she want to. She felt too

relaxed to even try not to let it happen. All she could hear was the soft,

soothing sound of John’s voice, and that was making her more and more

relaxed by the passing second.

“When your eyes … become so tired,” John continued soothingly. “and

… so heavy … you just … can’t keep them open … even if you

wanted to … allow them to close … all by themselves … that’s okay

… Allow them to close … whenever they want to and … relax … ten

times as deeply as .. you are relaxed… right now.”

Sandy lost all sense of where she was and she didn’t care. Her mind

began to float as if drifting on a cloud. Even John’s voice began to fade

in and out as she drifted. When her eyes closed all by themselves she

seemed to relax ten times as deeply as she had been already, although she

could still imagine the spinning spiral in her imagination. It was so

compelling to look at. So soft. Pulling her in. Making her sleepy and

drowsy. Drifting and floating on a cloud that was so soft and so

comfortable, wrapping its fluffy arms gently around her.

Time for a little test, John decided after waiting for several minutes

for Sandy to firmly entrench herself in her own relaxation, knowing that in

doing that alone, she would unknowingly take herself even more deeply down

into her trance.

“I know … you’re feeling … very wonderful and … very, very

relaxed and … calm and warm … and safe, Sandy,” he began. “And…

you can hear me … perfectly … and … you can speak to me clearly

… when I ask you to. That is true. Isn’t it?”

Sandy slowly nodded her head. She felt too relaxed to even get her

throat to wet up enough to even work. In fact, even nodding her head

seemed to take a lot of effort. And John’s voice sounded so far away. She

would have to listen very carefully or she’d miss what he said, she

decided, as she floated around on a fluffy white cloud.

“Tell me what you’re experiencing right now, Sandy.” he asked her.

It took almost thirty seconds before she answered him. He watched her

swallow several times so she could speak. When she did it was slow and

dreamy as if she was half asleep, or talking in her sleep.

“Fluffy .. white .. cloud.” she mumbled. “Wrapped around me … all

warm…and snug.”

John smiled. Now he had what he needed to take her really deeply.

“Yes, Sandy.” he told her. “And that fluffy white cloud is … wrapped

around you … just like your mother’s arms … used to be .. making you

… feel so safe and … so warm and … listening only to the …

sound of my voice…so soothing… just like your mother’s..and … you

always listened to … your mother’s voice in … everything she told you

… Isn’t that true?”

“Yees.” Sandy answered, slowly nodding her head at the same time.

“And you … always did … whatever she told you … all the time

… because you … always wanted her to … make you feel so warm and

… so safe and … so relaxed … just like you do now so … you

always wanted to do willingly … always … everything she told you …

no matter what it was … without question and … without doubt and …

without thinking about it even … because … everything she told you

… must have been for your own good so it … must have been right …

and correct … and natural … perfectly natural … That’s why you

always did … exactly as you were told … whenever you … felt like

you do now … so warm and safe … or she would … take this feeling

away from you if you didn’t … do exactly what you were told … which

is why … you will always do … exactly what you’re told … whatever

it is … without even thinking about it as anything but … perfectly

natural … even when you’re doing it … without thinking and …

without question … Isn’t that true?”

Everything he said made perfect sense, Sandy thought, as her

consciousness drifted around on the soft, white fluffy cloud. And no, she

didn’t want this feeling to go away. Her mother really did make her feel

like this whenever she was cuddled by her. It always felt very comfortable

and natural to do whatever she was told. She could remember.

“That’s fine, Sandy.” John told her soothingly. “You’re doing

perfectly. “And in the future … whenever you want to feel like you feel

right now … all you have to do is to … listen to my voice only …

say the words of your secret trance key …’sleep time’ … and your

conscious mind will … surrender instantly … immediately … and

completely to your unconscious mind and … bring you back to feeling …

exactly the way you feel right now … so warm … and soft … and

cuddled … and safe … all wrapped up warmly in your … fluffy white

cloud and … your mother’s loving and protective warm arms … Whenever

you … hear my voice only … say the special words of your secret

trance key … ‘sleep time’… you will go instantly … and immediately

… to sleep and … really enjoy every … beautiful … and wonderful

feeling … and sensation that … you’re feeling right now … And you

would like to … feel that way … whenever I say your trance key …

‘sleep time’ … isn’t that true?”

What a great idea, Sandy thought. My own special, secret trance key I

can use to feel like this whenever he says it. Now why didn’t I ever think

of something like that? She felt on top of the world. She couldn’t

remember the last time she had felt so wonderful within herself.

“Yes.” she answered agreeably, nodding her head at the same time.

“And when you hear me … snap my fingers,” John began to close. “you

can leave your fluffy white cloud for a little while … forgetting

everything I’ve said .. knowing you can … always go back to it …

forgetting everything I’ve said … when you … hear your trance key

with the … sound of my voice only. When I snap my fingers … you will

feel awake and alert … and absolutely terrific in every way … and

will always do exactly what you’re told … so you can come back here …

whenever I say your trance key and … do exactly as you’re told …

without question … and without doubt and … without even thinking

anything … except that everything is perfectly natural … and correct

.. in every way … and really enjoy everything … you’re feeling right

now. Are you happy? … to completely agree … with that suggestion?”

“Yes.” Sandy replied. She didn’t really want to leave her fluffy white

cloud, but she could always come back, just like John said. Whenever she

heard her special secret trance key. Sandy marvelled at what a great idea

that was. A trance key. Amazingly simple and natural.

John stood up, snapped his fingers, then walked to the door and turned

on the overhead light. Then he walked to the table and pressed the switch

on the model aircraft. It had done its work successfully, again. He

watched Sandy blink several times. Then she began to rub her eyes as she

stifled a yawn, and then grinned at him in embarrassment.

“Oh..I’m..I’m sorry!” she apologised.

John smiled. “That’s okay.” he said as he sat down opposite her.

“What happened?” Sandy asked. “Did I go to sleep? I had the most

wonderful dream if I did. I was all wrapped up in a cloud with my mother’s

arms around me. Ooohhh. It was beautifully relaxing.”

“You passed the assessment easily.” John told her grinning widely.

Sandy’s heart thumped excitedly. She couldn’t actually remember what

she’d done to pass it, but who cared. She’d passed, and that was all she

wanted to hear from him. Sandy was as happy as she’d ever felt. She felt

healthy and happy and her mind felt like it had a shroud lifted up from it.

Her thoughts were crystal clear. She looked directly into John’s eyes and

smiled warmly.

“I feel really terrific!” she said. “When do we start training? I want

to start as soon as possible.”

“Sleep time.” John said as he looked directly into her wide-open and

excited eyes.

“Huh?” Sandy replied instantly, caught off-guard by his strange comment.

“Sleep what?” She must have miss-heard him. Then suddenly, a wave of the

most beautiful relaxation, stronger than she had ever felt before, even on

her most exhausting day began to wash over her mind and body like a curtain

coming down after a show on stage-a large, soft, warm and safe curtain that

she could wrap herself up in. And then she did. It was just too

irresistible to resist. Her eyes grew heavier and heavier as she began to

lose herself in the depths of John’s warm and soft, relaxing gaze.

“Sleep time.” Sandy heard John say that same strange word again. Yet it

sounded familiar, almost as if it belonged to her, and only to her. She

felt her eyelids close all by themselves and didn’t want to fight the

wonderful feeling of such deep, warm comfort, let alone resist it in any

way whatsoever. So she simply surrendered to the feeling completely and

let herself go.

John watched and smiled inside and out as Sandy’s trance key did the job

perfectly that it had been designed to do. It always did, and, he knew

from experience, lots of it, that it always would. So, Sandy wanted to

start her training right away? Well, he thought with a smile. He would be

happy to grant her wish.

“Sandy?” he said softly. “Can you hear me clearly?”

“Yes.” she answered dreamily.

“Stand up quickly now and take off all your clothes, dear.” John said in

a motherly tone. “John wants to start your special training now, and I

want you to as well, just like you’ve always wanted to, and now you can, so

you can be the best and happiest student pilot in the world, and I can be

very proud of you. And Sandy, I want you to be a good little girl and do

everything he tells you, because we both know it’s all for your own good.

You and I both know John knows exactly what you need to be happy. Listen

and follow his instructions and suggestions to the letter-without question

and without even thinking about them. You know now that they are all

perfectly correct and natural, as you and I both know. And Sandy, I really

want you to put all of your heart and soul into enjoying everything he

tells you to do with him. Is that alright with you.”

“Yes, mother.” Sandy replied with a dreamy smile in her voice and on her

face as she stood up and began quickly unbuttoning her blouse. “It’s

perfectly alright with me.”

John settled back in his seat, picking up the model spitfire and began

to flick its propellor as he watched Sandy finish her disrobing for him

until she stood before him in all her naked glory, eyes closed and smiling

beautifully. Then he smiled a familiar smile, knowing Sandy would receive

from her pilot training, everything her little heart and body desired …

including her pilot licence.

Another Happy Ending.