Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Stir of Echoes
    A Stir of Echoes
    A Stir of Echoes
    Ebook225 pages3 hours

    A Stir of Echoes

    By Richard Matheson

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    This eerie ghost story, from Richard Matheson, the award-winning author of Hell House and I Am Legend, inspired the acclaimed 1999 film starring Kevin Bacon.

    Tom Wallace lived an ordinary life, until a chance event awakened psychic abilities he never knew he possessed. Now he's hearing the private thoughts of the people around him-and learning shocking secrets he never wanted to know. But as Tom's existence becomes a waking nightmare, even greater jolts are in store as he becomes the unwilling recipient of a compelling message from beyond the grave!

    At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateApr 1, 2007
    ISBN9781429913713
    A Stir of Echoes
    Author

    Richard Matheson

    Richard Matheson was one of the great writers of modern science fiction and fantasy. A New York Times bestselling author and screenwriter, his novels included I Am Legend, The Incredible Shrinking Man and many others. Stephen King called Matheson 'the author who influenced me the most as a writer'. A Grand Master of Horror and past winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement, He also won multiple other awards including the Edgar, the Hugo, the Spur, and the Writer's Guild awards. Richard Matheson passed away in June 2013.

    Read more from Richard Matheson

    Related to A Stir of Echoes

    Related ebooks

    Horror Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Review: Stephen King Modeled 'The Stand' On 'Lord Of The Rings.' TV Has Done It No Favors

      Dec 17, 2020

      As a story of a world-gutting flu pandemic, Stephen King's "The Stand," whose second, superior miniseries adaptation began Thursday on CBS All Access, could not be more timely. And as a story of good and evil facing off for the usual high stakes — a

      4 min read

    • Article

      Paul Tremblay

      Jun 17, 2020

      IT’S ALWAYS BEEN ONE OF MY BIGGEST FEARS that I would live to see the end of everything,” says Paul Tremblay, speaking to SFX from his Massachusetts home in the middle of lockdown. It’s a singularly peculiar time, and a peculiar interview for him to

      3 min read

    • Article

      Speaking Of Horror

      Sep 12, 2020

      Speaking Of Horror
      14 min read

    • Article

      Terrify Yourself with These Ten Horror Novels

      Jun 19, 2019

      A list of books so scary you definitely won't keep them on your nightstand. The post Terrify Yourself with These Ten Horror Novels appeared first on The Millions.

      4 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Paul Tremblay

      Dec 3, 2020

      For the first time in weeks, I was swept along into that trance, that magic inner space where stories live. The post A Year in Reading: Paul Tremblay appeared first on The Millions.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Tender Is The Flesh

      Jan 29, 2020

      RELEASED 6 FEBRUARY 224 pages | Paperback/ebook Author Augustina Bazterrica Publisher Pushkin Press This is a pretty unpleasant book. It’s clearly meant to be, but knowing that doesn’t make it any less unsettling to read. It’s set in a near future wh

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Horror Within

      Aug 29, 2020

      Stephen King’s supreme craftsmanship lies in his ability to allow the reader to build up the horror in her/ his mind instead of explicitly describing it. Most often, this horror lurks in the most mundane situations and in the most ordinary lives, unt

      1 min read

    • Article

      Like 'Goosebumps?' Here's Another 30 Years' Worth Of Horror For Kids

      Aug 12, 2018

      From the late '60s to the rise of Harry Potter in the late '90s, horror fiction had a hold on young readers, and there was something to scare everyone, from realistic thrillers to possessed dummies.

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Quiet Boy

      Jan 28, 2019

      The Quiet Boy
      29 min read

    • Article

      Carnival Of Souls

      Nov 11, 2021

      Carnival Of Souls
      2 min read

    • Article

      Hide

      May 18, 2022

      RELEASED 24 MAY 256 pages | Hardback/ebook/audiobook Author Kiersten White Publisher Del Rey “The book you need after Squid Game!” yells the hype for Kiersten White’s latest. Well, sort of. In fact this well-written horror novel feels closer to The C

      1 min read

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Sep 1, 2022

      First prize 10 and under Tang Li, age 9 Palmetto Bay, FL My name is Anisa. I was in Hawaii on vacation. I enjoyed sipping refreshing drinks, overlooking the turquoise ocean, and dancing with others, before I overheard that the priceless Fire Ring wa

      10 min read

    • Article

      Helen

      Jun 5, 2023

      She was a friend of my family—the Carlins, as I have chosen to call them. She and my father met in the fifties through the editor of the architecture magazine where she began her career. My father had taken her out a few times. They were never lovers

      30 min read

    • Article

      Appreciating Hate

      Sep 10, 2021

      Felix thought of his mind as though it were artwork – a painting. His skull was the frame, the canvas inside the frame was the grey matter, the applied paint was his education, and that insubstantial feeling evoked by the art piece was his consciousn

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Duplex

      Jun 9, 2020

      I moved to Los Angeles to sing. When was this? August? June? I was twenty-nine, and those were shapeless months, when the days blended together and I refused to pull them apart. My landlord was unusually close to her adult son. His name was Jeffrey,

      21 min read

    • Article

      Heavy Heart

      Feb 5, 2022

      Heavy Heart
      6 min read

    • Article

      Ashleigh Bryant Phillips

      Jun 10, 2020

      Ashleigh Bryant Phillips
      6 min read

    • Article

      Begin Again

      Jun 14, 2022

      My grandfather came to live with me. There was nowhere else for him to go. What had happened to all his children? Death, decay, exile—I hardly know. My own parents died of pain. But I must not be too gloomy, at the beginning, or you will leave me, an

      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Stir of Echoes

    4/5

    274 ratings17 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Tom, a typical 1950s suburban guy, is hypnotized as a party trick by his brother-in-law and develops psychic powers. Not only can he now sense the disgusting thoughts swirling through all his neighbors' minds, he also must solve the mystery of the ghost who keeps appearing in his living room, while reassuring his wife that he is not going crazy. This is a quick read, sometimes shocking, but not at all scary, despite the ghost. It explores some typical Matheson themes--sudden transformation and resulting isolation from a masculine point of view. I enjoyed this, but I thought both [The Shrinking Man] and [I Am Legend] tackled similar themes in a more satisfying way. This one does a good job of exposing the underbelly hiding beneath squeaky-clean 1950s suburbia, though; that's where the real horror lies. A bit dated, as women do not come off well in this novel; all of the female characters seem shrewish, slutty, or baby-crazy. I was pretty uncomfortable with the "jokes" about punching pregnant women in the stomach.
    • 4/5
      The story moved along at a great pace. I enjoyed this book a lot. The ending did surprise me. Starting to love this author. This is the second book I’ve read in the past few days written by him and I’ve enjoyed both.
    • 5/5
      The perfect suburban ghost story. Matheson always did have a way with blending the mundane job of living a working life with the supernatural forces that might swirl just beyond perception and will rush in given a chance. His work was consistently at the top of the field and A STIR OF ECHOES is no exception.

      It's the simplest of simple plots. A working man gets hypnotized, hypnotist accidently opens the man's mind to the great beyond, and man starts to experience the wider world of the weird beyond his normal day to day life - including the strange woman in his living room.

      Matheson makes it work by populating the tale with believeable characters, and by hitting us with several set pieces that not only ramp up the tension but are genuinely creepy and have that 'cold tingle in the spine' moment that marks all the best ghost stories.

      The Kevin Bacon movie went all out on the special effects for this one, but they weren't needed. It's the quiet moments, spent alone in the dark with what's inside - and outside - your mind that makes this so effective.

      For me, one of the best haunting novels ever written. It's short, fast, and packs a real punch.
    • 5/5
      Suspenseful, unpredictable, and well-written. The characters are slightly stereotypical, but as the book is tightly written, it appears to be for the sake of brevity. I actually had to stop myself reading several times because I didn't want to finish the book too quickly.
    • 5/5
      I saw the film first, I like some things about the film and there are some things I don't like about the film as well.If you like mystery/horror books and films then you might like the book or the film.A man named Tom Wallace attends a friendly party, his friends and brother are also there.Everyone is talking about spiritual things and if they believe in it or not, until Tom's brother mentions hypnosis and people that have stabbed themselves with blunt objects but didn't feel any pain while hypnotised. None of Tom's friends believe him, but he then decides to ask people at the party if he can hypnotise them but most of them refuse, until Tom decides to agree to being hypnotised.Tom is very susceptible to hypnosis, so it works very well, it works too well and unleashes a psychic awareness he never knew he had before. Afterwards he develops a psychic awareness sometimes called ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) clairvoyance or mediumship skills because he experiences various types of paranormal phenomena it fits into many categories.Tom has vivid dreams, can read people's thoughts and desires in their minds, he starts seeing a female ghost or spirit that may or may not have been murdered when they were alive, he has visions and experiences precognition (the knowledge of an event usually something terrible that will happen before it happens) Tom starts to think that his brother did something to him on purpose, while he was hypnotised to make him feel, see and experience this inexplicable paranormal phenomena, he questions his sanity and if he is going insane. Nothing is fully understandable or clear until he talks to him friend who is a psychiatrist but they have knowledge of fringe science (the study of psychic and paranormal phenomena) he clarifies all the things Tom has witnessed or experienced and explain to him that it's not mental illness, but he didn't really have an explanation for the paranormal activity other than telepathy and psychic phenomena.The rest of the book is about Tom trying to communicate with spirits to gain answers, to try and prevent horrible things happening but sometimes he is too late and there is nothing he can do.Tom discovers that his neighbour that is married had an affair with his wife's sister, but she found out and murdered her which then led to the discovery of her decomposing corpse in a crawlspace under Tom's house. The wife of the neighbour that had an affair, then decides to try and kill Tom, his wife and son. The plot for the film, has a particular disgusting and disturbing twist, but the disturbing imagery still remains in the book, which I am glad it is in the book, it helps to create a creepy atmosphere.
    • 4/5
      It started with a party at a neighbour’s place and one friend who said he’d like to hypnotize someone. Tom said he’d be hypnotized, but later that night, he couldn’t sleep… and there was a “woman” in his house. That is, possibly a ghost? From there, Tom seemed to be able to sense what others were feeling… then he seemed to be able to “see” things happen before they happened… And on and on… I really liked this. Not only was all this going on with Tom, but Tom has a wife and young son. His wife, in particular, was very upset about the whole thing, so in addition to Tom trying to figure out what was going on with himself, the book also explored how this was affecting their relationship. And there was a surprise ending.
    • 3/5
      Odd book. Man gets hypnotized by brother and becomes telepathic.Most of the book is dealing with his family and they think he might be mad. He has dreams and visions. Toward end of book he is advised by a doctor that the hypnosis just heightened his latent telepathic traits.I like this author but disappointed with this book.
    • 4/5
      This is a short, quick paced ghost story, that despite being written in 1958 does not feel dated. The movie version with Kevin Bacon does diverge quite a bit from the book, but that's to be expected in most cases.Overall, I really enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      This is a ghost story and the book creeped me out. Not however because it is a ghost story. This isn't a scary book with respect to ghosts. There's an attempt to build all that up but the ghost bit, it didn't really work for me except ... except that the characters and worries in here get under your skin. My skin anyway. This is a creepy book because it digs into the underbelly of the mythical suburban family life of the 1950's. A couple of the neighbors were way too effed up and nasty. I was offended a number of times (multiple 'joking' references to punching pregnant women in the belly). Then there's the babysitter ... Some people really like this book. There are a bunch of 4 and 5 star ratings on this. I can see someone who likes getting creeped out giving this 4 or 5 stars. The end surprised me, but not entirely. Matheson plays fair with the reader. I'll probably have a few nightmares from this one.Matheson has written some famous stuff. He wrote the story for what became the classic Twilight Zone episode 'Nightmare at 20,000 feet' with William Shatner. Among other things he also wrote 'I Am Legend' which was first turned into the film 'Last Man on Earth' then 'Omega Man' and more recently into the film 'I Am Legend'. This story, 'A Stir of Echoes' was made into a movie as well, about 20 years ago, although I never saw it. Others include Hell House, Duel, The Incredible Shrinking Man and more. My favorite film adaptation of a story would be 'Somewhere In Time' with Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve.
    • 3/5
      I thought that I knew basically what to expect when reading this book. I had seen the movie and thought that it was better than the other major ghost movie that summer: The Sixth Sense. And knowing and liking Matheson's novels, I had high hopes. Unfortunately they weren't quite satisfied. Instead I got a book that was interesting but also annoying. The story is about Tom Wallace, a man who mistakenly has a psychic power awoken in him after a bout of hypnosis by his brother-in-law. And rather than being a fun capability, Wallace can't control it and his life is thrown into a shambles. And that is the bulk of my problem with the book. For the majority of the story, Wallace is denying his power and wondering what is happening to him despite all the clues that are present and everything that he can do. And worst, his wife is a whiner who is also too dumb to realize the extent of what is happening. OK, so maybe part of the wife's personality is due to when the novel was written (the copyright is 1958) but it is still annoying. If the two of them could have dealt with the powers in a more useful and/or understanding way, then it would have made all the difference. Instead of a richly powerful story, we end up with good concept and characters that annoy. Definitely not one of Matheson's better works.
    • 5/5
      Another excellent read from Matheson. I don't think anyone does creepy ghost stories like he does. Right up there with I Am Legend and Hell House - what a pity the films never live up to the quality of the books. Very much a recommended read.
    • 4/5
      During a party one night, Tom Wallace agrees to be hypnotized. But what was supposed to just be a party trick, actually opens a door in his mind, granting him telepathic abilities. He begins to see into the dark, frightening corners of his neighbors otherwise outwardly safe and orderly lives. As his headaches grow along with his perception and his behavior becomes more erratic, his new gifts begin to threaten the stability of his own family, while some darker secret lies just beneath the surface.This is an easy read and a really enjoyable book. It's tied to its late '50s era, but this is not terribly of putting and it translates fairly well. I think Matheson did a great job portraying both Tom (frightened but curious) and his wife (it must be so terrifying to see someone you love go through this and not know if they are sane or not or how to help them). I would definitely recommend this for some light reading, and while it touches the horror genre, it's not terribly frightening.As a footnote, I also really love the movie version with Kevin Bacon. They do change parts of the plot and make different connections, but it's a damn good adaptation.
    • 3/5
      Usually, I am the type of person who enjoys the book more than a movie based on that book.Maybe it's because I watched the movie first but IMO, the book pales in comparason to the movie. I don't even like Kevin Bacon lol but he does a good job. The story in the movie, way different than in the book and far more creepy.
    • 3/5
      This was a pretty good book, though I have to say that I enjoyed the movie a bit more. There were definitely some changes (different ghost, I think - and definitely a different killer). I appreciated that the writing didn't feel too dated, given the fact that this book was published around 1958.
    • 4/5
      There was a film adaptation of this years ago, not long after "Sixth Sense" came out and I remember thinking at the time that it seemed just to be more of the same. I didn't realise that it was based on a novel, (which, in fact, came long before "Sixth Sense") until I came across the book randomly a couple of years ago - and, as it was written by Richard Matheson (I loved I Am Legend - the book that is), I had to buy it.Tom Wallace leads a fairly normal life in the suburbs of LA with his wife Elizabeth (expecting their second child) and son Richard. However, messing around at a dinner party given by a neighbour, he allows his brother-in-law to hypnotise him. Everything seems fine, even amusing at the time, but that night, he sees the apparition of a woman in a black dress in their living room. They soon come to realise that the hypnosis has released some form of innate hypersensitivity of which Tom hadn't been aware.I made the mistake of taking this to read in the bath with me and ended up wrinkled like a prune - it took a lot of will power to put it down long enough to get out the bath! It's very tense and the sense of Tom's mounting curiosity mixed with confused fear is very well conveyed. That said, towards the end, certain aspects did start to feel a little contrived. Not enough to stop me enjoying the book, but enough that it didn't have nearly the same kind of impact as I Am Legend, which I continued to think about for quite some time. Nonetheless a gripping read.
    • 4/5
      This book isn't a traditional horror novel but it does have a ghost and some horrifying moments.Tom Wallace gets hypnotized one night and in the aftermath finds himself open to unexplained psychic phenomena. He has become something of a medium; receiving visits from a ghost and experiencing moments of predictive ability. He ultimately becomes fixated on learning why the ghost is visiting him. Along the way he has to deal with his wife's fear of him and concerns that this new ability will destroy their lives.What I found most compelling about this novel is that it reveals the monsters that live inside all of us. No matter how good we may think we are, inside our own minds we think terrible things and may be capable of horrific acts. Following Tom as he comes to understand this, we are as fascinated and repelled by these revelations as Tom. This book is a quick but very enthralling read, opening up facets of human nature that we may often prefer to avoid.
    • 3/5
      At an ordinary dinner party, looked forward to with no great excitement by the inhabitants of a quiet suburban street, Anne’s brother Phil attempts to hypnotise her sceptical husband Tom. Subsequently, Tom develops strange psychic abilities. For me, Matheson’s depictions of the way in which this effects the relationship between Tom and Anne are some of the best parts of this very readable novel. I was less interested in the parts of the story that dealt with Anne and Tom's neighbours and their relationship, and the resolution of the ghost story elements of the plot - although these were probably also quite well done. Not a bad book, but not entirely my cup of tea.

    Book preview

    A Stir of Echoes - Richard Matheson

    ONE

    The day it all started—a hot, August Saturday—I’d gotten off work a little after twelve. My name is Tom Wallace; I work in Publications at the North American Aircraft plant in Inglewood, California. We were living in Hawthorne, renting a two-bedroom tract house owned by one of our next-door neighbors, Mildred Sentas. Another neighbor, Frank Wanamaker, and I usually drove to and from the plant together, alternating cars. But Frank didn’t like Saturday work and had managed to beg off that particular day. So I drove home alone.

    As I turned onto Tulley Street, I saw the ‘51 Mercury coupe parked in front of our house and knew that Anne’s brother, Philip, was visiting. He was a psychology major at the University of California in Berkeley and he sometimes drove down to L.A. for weekends. This was the first time he’d been to our new place; we’d only moved in two months before.

    I nosed the Ford into the driveway and braked it in front of the garage. Across the street Frank Wanamaker’s wife, Elizabeth, was sitting on their lawn pulling up weeds. She smiled faintly at me and raised one white-gloved hand. I waved to her as I got out of the car and started for the porch. As I went up its two steps I saw Elizabeth struggle to her feet and adjust her maternity smock. The baby was due in about three months. It was the Wanamaker’s first in seven years of marriage.

    When I opened the front door and went into the living room, I saw Phil sitting at the kitchen table, a bottle of Coca-Cola in front of him. He was about twenty, tall and lean, his darkish-brown hair crew-cut. He glanced in at me and grinned.

    Hi, brother man, he said.

    Hi. I took off my suit coat and hung it in the front closet. Anne met me in the kitchen doorway with a smile and a kiss.

    How’s the little mother? I asked, patting her stomach.

    Gross, she said.

    I chuckled and kissed her again.

    As they say, I said, hot enough for you?

    Don’t even talk about it, she answered.

    Okay.

    Hungry? she asked.

    Ravenous.

    Good. Phil and I were just about to start.

    Be right with you. I washed my hands and sat down across from Phil, eyeing his blindingly green polo shirt.

    What’s that for, I asked, warning off aircraft?

    Glows in the dark, he said.

    Helps the co-eds keep track of you at night, I said. Phil grinned.

    Now don’t you two get started again, Anne said, putting a dish of cold cuts on the table.

    Whatever does you mean? Phil said to her.

    Never mind now, she said. I don’t want any needling session this weekend. It’s too hot.

    Agreed, said Phil, needling excluded. Agreed, brother man?

    And spoil my weekend? I said.

    Never mind, said Anne. I can’t face that and the heat both.

    Where’s Richard? I asked.

    Playing in the backyard with Candy. Anne sat down beside me with a groan. There’s a load off my feet, she said.

    I patted her hand and we started eating.

    Speaking of Candy, Anne said, I trust you haven’t forgotten the party tonight at Elsie’s.

    Oh my God, I said, I did forget. Do we have to go?

    Anne shrugged. She invited us a week ago. That was excuse time. It’s too late now.

    Confusion. I bit into my ham on rye.

    Brother man seems less than joyous, Phil said. Elsie’s shindigs no goo’?

    No goo’, I said.

    Who is she?

    Our next-door neighbor, Anne told him. Candy’s her little girl.

    And parties are her profession, I said. She’s the poor man’s Elsa Maxwell.

    Anne smiled and shook her head. Poor Elsie, she said. If she only knew what awful things we say behind her back.

    Dull, huh? said Phil.

    Why talk? I said. Go to the party with us and see for yourself.

    I’ll liven ‘er up, said Phil.

    A little after eight-fifteen Richard fell asleep in his crib and we went next door to Elsie’s house. In most marriages you think of a couple’s home as theirs. Not so with that house. Ron may have made the payments on it but the ownership was strictly Elsie’s. You felt it.

    It was Ron who answered our knock. He was twenty-four, a couple of years older than Elsie, a couple of inches taller. He was slightly built, sandy-haired with a round, boyish face that seldom lost its impassive set; even when he smiled as he did then, the ends of his mouth curling up slightly.

    Come in, he said in his quiet, polite voice.

    Frank and Elizabeth were already there, Elizabeth settled on the red sofa like a diffident patient in a dentist’s waiting room, Frank’s thin body slouched in one of the red arm chairs. He brightened only a little when we came in, raising his bored gaze from the green rug, straightening up in the chair, then standing. I introduced Phil around.

    Hi!

    I glanced over and saw Elsie peering around the corner of the kitchen doorway. She’d cut her dark hair still shorter and bobbed it still tighter, I noticed. When we’d moved into the neighborhood, she’d had long, drabby blond hair.

    We all said hello to her and she disappeared a moment, then came into the room with a tray of drinks in her hands. She was wearing a red, netlike dress which clung tightly to the curves of her plump body. When she bent over to put the tray down on the blondwood coffee table, the bosom of the dress slipped away from her tight, black brassiere. I noticed Frank’s pointed stare, then Elsie straightened up with a brassy, hostesslike smile and looked at Phil. Anne introduced them.

    "Hel-lo, Elsie said. I’m so glad you could come. She looked at us. Well, she said, name your poison."

    What happened that evening up to the point when it all began is not important. There were the usual peregrinations to the kitchen and the bathroom; the usual breaking up and re-gathering of small groups—the women, the men, Frank, Phil and myself, Elizabeth and Anne, Elsie and Phil, Ron and me—and so on; the drifting knots of conversation that take place at any get-together.

    There was record music and a little sporadic attempt at dancing. There was Candy stumbling into the living room, blinking and numb with only half-broken sleep; being tucked back into her bed. There were the expected personality displays—Frank, cynical and bored; Elizabeth, quietly radiant in her pregnancy; Phil, amusing and quick; Ron, mute and affable; Anne, soft-spoken and casual; Elsie, bouncing and strainedly vivacious.

    One bit of conversation I remember: I was just about to go next door to check on Richard when Elsie said something about our getting a baby-sitter.

    It doesn’t matter when you just go next door like this, she said, but you do have to get out once in a while. Once in a while, to Elsie, meant an average of four nights a week.

    We’d like to, Anne said, but we just haven’t been able to find one.

    Try ours, said Elsie. She’s a nice kid and real reliable.

    That was when I left and checked on Richard—and had one of my many nighttime adorations; that standing in semi-darkness over your child’s crib and staring down at him. Nothing else. Just standing there and staring down at his little sleep-flushed face and feeling that almost overwhelming rush of absolute love in yourself. Sensing something close to holy in the same little being that nearly drove you out of your mind that very afternoon.

    I turned up the heat a little then and went back to Elsie’s house.

    They were talking about hypnotism. I say they but, outside of Phil, Anne and maybe Frank, no one there knew the least thing about it. Primarily, it was a dissertation by Phil on one of his favorite topics.

    Oh, I don’t believe that, Elsie said as I sat down beside Anne and whispered that Richard was fine. People who say they were hypnotized weren’t, really.

    Of course they were, Phil said. If they weren’t, how could they have hatpins jabbed into their throats without bleeding? Without even crying out?

    Elsie turned her head halfway to the side and looked at Phil in that overdone, accusingly dubious way that people affect when they have to bolster their own uncertain doubts.

    "Did you ever really see anyone get a hatpin jabbed in their throat?" she said.

    "I’ve had a five-inch hatpin in my throat, Phil answered. And, once, I put one halfway through a friend of mine’s arm at school—after I’d hypnotized him."

    Elsie shuddered histrionically. Uhh, she said, "how awful."

    Not at all, Phil said with that casual tone undergraduates love to affect when they are flicking off intellectual bomb-shells. I didn’t feel a thing and neither did my friend.

    Oh, you’re just making that up, Elsie said, studiedly disbelieving.

    Not at all, said Phil.

    It was Frank who gave it the final, toppling push.

    All right, he said, let’s see you hypnotize somebody then. He squeezed out one of his faintly cruel smiles. Hypnotize Elsie, he said.

    Oh, no you don’t! Elsie squealed. I’m not going to do terrible things in front of everybody.

    I thought you didn’t believe in it, Phil said, amusedly.

    I don’t, I don’t, she insisted. "But . . . well, not me."

    Frank’s dark eyes moved. All right, he said, who’s going to be hypnotized?

    I wouldn’t suggest me unless we want to spend the whole night here, Anne said. Phil used to waste hours trying to hypnotize me.

    You’re a lousy subject, that’s all, Phil said, grinning at her.

    Okay, who’s it gonna be then? Frank persisted. How about you, Lizzie?

    Oh . . . Elizabeth lowered her eyes and smiled embarrassedly.

    We promise not to make you take your clothes off, Frank said.

    Frank. Elizabeth was thirty-one but she still blushed like a little girl. She wouldn’t look at anybody. Elsie giggled. Frank looked only vaguely pleased. Elizabeth was too easy a mark for him.

    Come on, Elsie, he said, be a sport. Let him put you under. We won’t make you do a strip tease on the kitchen table.

    You— Ron started to say.

    Oh, you’re awful! Elsie said, delighted.

    What were you going to say, Ron? I asked.

    Ron swallowed. I—I was going to ask Phil, he said, "you—can’t make someone—do what they don’t want to do, can you? I mean—what they wouldn’t do? If they were awake, I mean."

    "Oh, what do you know about hypnotism, Ronny?" Elsie asked, trying to sound pleasantly amused. The acidity still came through.

    Well, it’s true and it isn’t true, Phil said. "You can’t make a subject break his own moral code. But—you can make almost any act fit into his moral code."

    How do you mean? Frank asked. This sounds promising.

    Well, for instance, Phil said, if I hypnotized your wife—

    "You could make her do something wicked?" Frank asked, looking at Elizabeth pointedly.

    Frank, please, she almost whispered.

    Say I put a loaded gun in her hand, Phil said, and told her to shoot you. She wouldn’t do it.

    That’s what you think, Frank said, snickering. I looked at Elizabeth again and saw her swallowing dryly. She was one of those pale and pitiable creatures who seem constantly vulnerable to hurt. You want to protect them and yet you can’t. Of course Frank wasn’t the easiest man in the world to live with either.

    Well, for argument’s sake, Phil said, smiling a little, we’ll assume she wouldn’t shoot you.

    Okay, for argument’s sake, Frank said. He glanced at Elizabeth, a hint of that cruel smile on his lips again.

    But, Phil said, if I were to tell Elizabeth that you were going to strangle her and told her that the only defense in the world she had was to shoot you right away—well, she might very well shoot you.

    How true, said Frank.

    Oh, I don’t believe that, said Elsie.

    That’s right, I joined in. We have a friend named Alan Porter—he’s a psychiatrist—and he gave a demonstration of that very thing. He had a young mother under hypnosis and he told her he was going to kill her baby and the only way she could stop him was by stabbing him with the knife she was holding—it was a piece of cardboard. She stabbed him all right.

    Well, that’s different, said Elsie. Anyway, she was probably just playing along with a gag.

    Look, said Phil, gesturing dramatically with his hands, I’ll prove it to you right now if you want. Just let me hypnotize you.

    "No, sir, said Elsie, not me."

    How about you? Phil asked Ron.

    Ron mumbled something and shook his head with a faint smile. He’s already half hypnotized, said Elsie, kindly.

    Can’t I get me a customer? asked Phil. He sounded disappointed.

    How about you, Frank? I asked.

    Uh-uh, he said, smiling as he blew out cigarette smoke. Don’t want ol’ Lizzie knowing what’s in my dirty old subconscious.

    Elsie giggled and Elizabeth pressed her lips together, having failed in the attempt to smile.

    Well, that leaves you, brother man, said Phil, looking at me.

    "You don’t really think you could hypnotize me, do you?" I needled.

    Don’t be so darn sure, he said, wagging a finger at me. You arrogant ones are the first to topple.

    I grinned, shrugging. So what have I got to lose? I said.

    TWO

    First of all, Phil asked that all the lights be put out except for one dim wall lamp over the fireplace. Then he had me stretch out on the sofa while Ron went into the kitchen to get extra chairs. Gradually, everyone settled down. When the rustlings, comments and coughs had finally ceased, Phil spoke.

    Now I can’t promise anything, he said.

    You mean we’re going through all this for nothing? Elsie asked.

    Some people are harder to hypnotize than others, that’s all, Phil said. "I don’t know about Tom. But you, for instance, Elsie, would be a good subject, I’m

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1