The Mind Controller of Seville
Part One: Morning Plans
Eduardo sat down at his usual outdoor table at the Central City Café, just down the street from Seville’s Museum of Fine Arts, and ordered his usual glass of lemon water, cup of coffee, slice of cheese, slice of ham, and two hard boiled eggs. It was 9 am. He picked up his daily newspaper and savored his coffee.
Half-way through a bite of cheese, a well-dressed Indian man in a suit and tie sat down in the chair opposite him and began nervously drumming his fingers on the table. Eduardo casually folded his newspaper and began tapping the shell of an egg with his spoon.
“May I be of assistance, Sir?” Eduardo queried over a scoop of egg. The Indian man breathed a deep sigh of relief.
“Yes. Yes, you may. They say that you’re the best. Is that true?”
Eduardo briefly waved his fingers through the air. Of course.
“Look, my name is Chubupramarkand Parkuramathanafar. I’m the chief accountant with the local Seville news network Channel ZMI.” Chubupramarkand lowered his voice to a whisper. “The station isn’t doing so well these days. We have a powerful German banker flying in to arrange a loan to keep us going and we need some help on getting good terms.”
“Ah, yes. I don’t do corporate espionage, Mr. Chubby. Thank you.” Eduardo snapped his newspaper open again.
“Gosh, um… Your name is Eduardo? Yes? We’re a legitimate business. We don’t do espionage. The problem is our CEO.”
“I don’t do CEOs. Good day.”
“She’ll be quite disappointed to hear that, Eduardo.” Chubupramarkand checked his watch. “9:30 already. I should be getting back. She will be expecting me.”
Eduardo looked around from the side of his paper. “She…. hmmmmmm… tell me more…”
“Parku. Please call me Parku. Please.”
“Very well, Parku. I’m listening.”
“The problem is that our CEO, Amandella Rossetti, is frankly a bit of a lightweight. She’s competent enough, certainly, but she doesn’t have that killer instinct she’ll need to get a good term on a loan.”
“Ah, excellent. So you want me to do a little mind control to build up her confidence and give her that sharp eye for the bottom line that every CEO needs to get ahead in the world?”
“Yes. That is exactly what I want you to do.”
“Parku, friend, ally, associate, give the matter no more thought. I, Eduardo Ducas, the mind controller above all others of Seville, will take care of you. My courier will deliver a CD this afternoon. To all appearances, a harmless set of modern affirmations, but buried deep within are the subliminal messages that will turn your CEO into a real dragon lady.”
Parku rose and shook hands. “Thank you so much,” he beamed before removing his cell phone from his jacket pocket and disappearing into the crowds.
Before Eduardo could return his breakfast, the athletic young man with slicked back hair that had been hovering around the café jumped into the now-open seat.
“Eduardo, I need your help. It’s a woman.”
“Good morning, Vittorio. I need help with a woman, Eduardo. This is my Monday,” Eduardo complained.
“She is the one, Eduardo. I just know it. She just won’t even look at me. I’ve tried everything.”
“A handsome fellow like you should be able to get any girl in Seville. Leave me be.”
“This one is different. She’s… modest. She says she wants to be a nun. She won’t even look at me unless we’re in church together.”
“You go to church with this girl?”
“Well, I have to just to talk to her. Help me Eduardo, please.”
Eduardo sighed. “I’ll do anything to get a promising young girl’s head out of the clouds. Tell me… more…”
Across the street, a bus with the big sign “American Women’s Christian Chorus” pulled into the bus parking space right in front of the museum and a line of beautiful young women began to file out. The last woman off of the bus took Eduardo’s breath away. She was tall and thin with ample breasts and smoldering, lidded eyes. Her hair was black and long and bounded down the back of her neck in ample curls. Her skin was a slight olive color which made her long legs look truly heavenly with her short skirt. Ah, yes, la primera diosa, you will be mine. I, Eduardo Ducas, shall come for you.
Eduardo pouted. His future wife was now holding hands with a blonde-haired, brace-faced girlfriend. Not an insuperable obstacle to be sure, but certainly an annoying one.
“Are you even listening to me?”
“Yes, yes, of course. You want a trance that will make your girlfriend fall in love with a big, hunky guy like yourself. Look, Vittorio, I’ve got to run. I’ll have something in your mailbox by the end of the day. Take a load off and read the paper. Bye.”
Eduardo hurried off down the street into traffic without even waiting to hear Vittorio’s reply. Within moments he had infiltrated the museum and was hovering just beyond the edge of the group of women. It looked like a middle-aged woman was leading the group and giving them information about the exhibits.
Eduardo caught the eye of his beauty and whistled to her. She smiled and looked down. The group slowly made its way into a darkened room filled with an exhibit of Tibetan pottery. Eduardo partially hid in the previous room and, too his delight, she and her girlfriend lingered behind to talk with him.
“I’m Eduardo, the greatest tour guide in all Seville. I’m here to rescue you from this boring excursion.”
“I’m Claudia,” the beautiful girl said, “and this is Becky. We’d love to come with you but Mrs. Larsson would be very cross with us.”
“Are you here on vacation or a tour or what?”
“It’s supposed to be a vacation, but Mrs. Larsson doesn’t want us carousing with strange men.”
“Ah, yes, the famous American Religious Right in action. Do not worry. I can take care of everything. Follow me.”
Eduardo led the two women back to where Mrs. Larsson was delivering a lecture on Hapsburg Baroque gold working.
“Notice the care and attention given to Our Lord and Savior in all of these special pieces,” said Mrs. Larsson. “Excuse me, sir, but who are you?”
“I, as it so happens to be, am the state-sponsored national tour guide assigned to your vacation group. Do you have a permit to conduct tours?”
“I’m sure I do somewhere,” replied Mrs. Larsson as she rummaged through her expansive purse. “Wait, I don’t need a permit. Who…. are…”
Mrs. Larsson looked up into the swinging pocket watch that Eduardo was dangling in front of her face.
“That’s right, Mrs. Larsson. Just stare at the pretty golden watch and relax. Relax deeply. Don’t worry. Everything is fine. Perfectly fine.”
“Perfectly… fine…”
“Yes. Perfectly fine. Just relax and go deeper. Deeper and deeper. All the way down.”
“All… the… way…”
“You are now in a state of total relaxation and hypnotic trance. How do you feel, Mrs. Larsson?”
“I… feel… fine…”
“That’s good. Now, when I count to three, you will tell all of your girls that they are free for the rest of the day. You won’t worry one bit about them for the rest of the day, because they are good girls and very trustworthy and virtuous. For the rest of the day, every time you find yourself worrying about your girls, you will remind yourself that they are very trustworthy and virtuous and then forget all about it. Do you understand?”
“I… understand.”
“Very good. Now. One. Two. Three.”
Mrs. Larsson shook her head for a second or two.
“Ok, girls, I’m sure you don’t want me to drone on and on like this. Everyone has a free day to use as you please. Just remember that we’re leaving for Toledo tomorrow morning.”
The girls cheered and all departed, leaving Eduardo alone with Claudia and Becky.
“See, a piece of cake. So, Claudia, perhaps you would like to tour the famous beaches of Cádiz with Eduardo.”
“I… really shouldn’t. Becky and I are kind of a couple and we’d like to spend the day together.”
“I see. Well…”
Eduardo and Claudia each dropped a pocket watch from the chain in front of the other’s eyes at exactly the same time.
“I’m impressed. We are at a stalemate,” Eduardo conceded. “What do we do know?”
Eduardo and Claudia stared at each other for a few moments, and then both of them turned to stare at Becky.