“But mum, everyone else is going.”

The justification every teenage boy gives. His mother, Geraldine, bit her tongue, determined not to ask him if everyone else was jumping off the bridge, would he jump too? Instead, she let him sweat. 

Alex Haze was a stage hypnotist who had rolled into town as part of a country-wide tour. They were performing at the local theatre for three nights and sixteen-year-old Michael was desperate to go.

Her ex-husband had derisively snorted that it was probably all staged with a couple of stooges and plants in the audience when Michael had asked him if he could go. He did his usual routine of painting Geraldine as the bad cop by telling Michael he would let him go but it was up to his mother as he lived with her. 

Michael was persistent, constantly following his mum around and badgering her. Finally, the whining and whinging reached fever pitch, and amidst offers of dishwashing and room tidying, she relented.

“Thanks, Mum. You’re the best.”

“Just don’t get hypnotised,” she pleaded but the warning fell on deaf ears as he was already on the phone, telling his best friend she’d given in and allowed him to go.

Michael came home from the show acting decidedly shifty. He’d stuck his head in the living room door and told his mum he was home safe and he’d had a good time. He didn’t answer when he was asked if he’d been hypnotised and instead, made his excuses and went to bed.

The next morning, all hell broke loose. Michael was running around the house, searching under the table, looking behind doors and getting more stressed by the minute. Geraldine stood watching the maelstrom around her until he finally responded to her constant questions about what was wrong with a wail.

“I’ve lost my leprechaun!”

Slowly, Geraldine got the story out of him. He’d been called up on stage and been entrusted with the care of a leprechaun. He was supposed to feed it, get it registered at the post office, and not let it leave his side.

“You’ve just been hypnotised. It’s not real.”

Her reassurances fell on deaf ears.

“He is real, his name is Seamus, and I need to find him.”

Five minutes later, he came out of his bedroom holding thin air.

“I found him, he was just shy and didn’t want to meet you all.”

Michael beamed at his bemused looking mother and little sister, Meabh.

“Anyway, we’re off to get registered before school. Say ‘bye bye’, Seamus.”

“Michael, you can’t take a leprechaun to school!” Geraldine shouted, before realising just how stupid she sounded telling him off for taking an imaginary leprechaun with him.

The Postmaster watched with bewilderment as a group of teenage boys ran around the post office, calling out various names and reaching up onto the shelves. He stared again at the boy in front of him.

“You want to register a what?”

“My leprechaun. I was told I had to get a leprechaun licence at the Post Office.”

The Postmaster shook his head, looked at the six teenagers, the line of old people waiting to collect their pensions, the man with the parcels, the assorted people looking for stamps, and raised his eyes. He reached for a Dog Licence form, stamped it and handed it to the teenager in front of him.

“There you go,” he sighed. “One leprechaun, registered.”

Michael beamed with pride as he left the post office with Seamus. Unfortunately, Seamus was not going to be a well-behaved leprechaun.

Geraldine was in the middle of a nightmare morning. Her manager at the bank had requested a full audit of her major clients and she was swamped with files and folders when the phone rang. She scrambled across the desk, trying to stop a pile of folders hitting the floor as she picked up the receiver.

“Hello, Geraldine O’Brien speaking.”

“Hello Mrs O’Brien, this is St Patrick’s College here. Michael has been suspended for causing disruption throughout the school and we request you to come and remove him until this leprechaun business is sorted.”

Geraldine’s heart sank. This was the last thing she needed right now. 

On the drive home from the school, Michael tried to explain that it wasn’t his fault. That Seamus wouldn’t sit down for the lessons and had run amuck. Geraldine had had enough. She stopped outside the house and told Michael to get inside and she would deal with him later. Michael stood flabbergasted at the side of the road as Geraldine drove off. 

Geraldine drove to the theatre where Michael had gone to see the hypnotist the night before. She marched up to the box office and demanded to speak to Alex Haze. 

When the receptionist enquired what it was in relation to, she was left in no doubt that if Geraldine didn’t get to speak to Alex Haze right now, there would be consequences.

Geraldine was quickly shown upstairs and brought along a corridor before the receptionist knocked on the door and entered. A hushed, hurried conversation followed while Geraldine stood and fumed outside. Finally, the receptionist came out and told her to go on in.

Geraldine wasn’t sure what to expect but Alex Haze wasn’t how she’d imagined. She’d thought he would be some sleazy old man with greasy slicked-back hair. Instead, she was confronted by a young woman in her late twenties dressed in a white shirt and black trousers with long dark hair and sparkling green eyes.

“Alex Haze?” Geraldine cautiously questioned.

“Yep, that’s me.” The woman smiled at her. “That poor receptionist said you were on the warpath. Did I do something wrong?”

Geraldine stood there, trying to get her thoughts together as the woman stepped forward and took Geraldine’s hand in hers.

“You hypnotised my son, Michael.” Geraldine blushed, aware of how stupid this sounded. “You gave him a leprechaun to look after.”

“Yes, well that is rather the point of the show,” Alex responded. “It wouldn’t be much of an experience if I didn’t.” She paused, looking at Geraldine’s face.

“Did he get into trouble?”

Geraldine related everything that had happened. Alex stood, still holding Geraldine’s hand. When she had finished, Alex smiled and shook her head.

“I didn’t make your son do anything he didn’t want to do. Hypnosis is about suggestion.”

Alex ran her eyes over Geraldine. Even under the corporate bank uniform of a navy skirt, jacket and pale blue blouse, Alex could appreciate Geraldine’s figure. She looked to be in her late thirties, early forties at most, and a wicked thought crept into Alex’s head.

“Your son wanted to be hypnotised, he wanted to be the centre of attention. I just helped make that happen.” 

She looked at the swell of Geraldine’s breasts through the blouse. She could see a bit of a pale pink lace bra through the gap between two buttons.

“All I did was suggest to Michael and his friends a way to cause some mayhem and be the centre of attention.”

Geraldine listened to Alex. The soft, sultry voice flowed over her. She found the feelings of anger and frustration evaporating under the confident gaze and warm, welcoming voice of the young hypnotist. She felt the heat from the young woman’s hand spreading along her arm.

“Teenage boys want to have fun and I just gave them an excuse. I don’t make anyone do anything they don’t want to do, I just give them the excuse to do it.”

She released Geraldine’s hand and stepped back.

“Hypnotism isn’t about waving a gold watch in front of your eyes, it’s all about the power of suggestion. My hand holding yours made your hand warm.” 

She smiled at Geraldine. Geraldine looked at the woman’s eyes. The green irises sparkled like emeralds.

“And now, when I suggest to you that it’s getting warm in here, you notice the heat in the room that you’d been too busy to realise before, but now that you do, it feels so warm, you get the urge to remove your jacket.”

Geraldine was startled to realise that it was quite warm in the room and without thinking slipped the jacket from her shoulders and draped it over a chair.

“Hypnosis isn’t about controlling someone,” Alex continued. stepping closer, she slowly walked around Geraldine as Geraldine stood, fingers tugging at the top button of her pale blue blouse.

Geraldine’s mind whirled. This woman’s voice was like chocolate. She imagined it oozing over her, dripping chocolate over her breasts. ‘Where did that thought come from?’ she wondered. 

She felt long-dormant feelings awaken in her as the woman continued to speak. Memories of her time at college, her dalliances with other girls, that time before she’d met her husband and settled down flooded her mind. Even after the acrimonious divorce, those feelings hadn’t been reawakened. Instead, her sex drive had gone into hibernation. Until now. This woman’s voice was resurrecting thoughts, memories and desires.

“Hypnotism is just a way to free those needs and wants. To let you experience those sensations while being able to claim... it wasn’t my fault.”

The heat in the room was becoming more intense. Geraldine’s fingers unfastened another button. Her bra was exposed as Geraldine unbuttoned them all, tugging the blouse out of the waistband of her skirt.

Alex leant in, her lips inches from Geraldine’s ear as she stood behind her. Geraldine felt Alex’s breath on her neck, causing goosebumps on her skin.

“You want to unzip your skirt. You need to unzip it. To let it fall in a heap on the floor.”

Geraldine sighed. Her tongue darted out, licking her top lip before her fingers deftly slid the zip down. With a shimmy of her hips, the skirt crumpled in a heap around her ankles.

Alex’s fingers traced a line across her stomach. Geraldine flinched as they touched her stretch marks.

“They are so beautiful,” Alex whispered. “The sign of motherhood.”

Geraldine didn’t like to show off her body. She remembered when she was younger, she didn’t think twice about stripping down, or wearing skimpy tops and short skirts but since she’d had Meabh, she hadn’t been able to lose the pregnancy belly. Going running a few times a week had helped, despite the criticisms and put-downs from her husband at the time but no one had seen her naked for years.

Alex watched Geraldine slowly tug the blouse down her arms. Geraldine stood in just her bra and knickers as this woman, a virtual stranger whispered suggestions in her ear.

“Normally, you wouldn’t dream of standing in front of a stranger in your underwear. You’d normally die of shame but when you are hypnotised, guilt and shame disappear. It leaves the real you exposed.”

Geraldine could feel the woman’s words drip into her ear. Every word caused another drop to ooze into her knickers. She closed her eyes and groaned softly as Alex’s fingers traced the lacy edge of her bra. Geraldine’s nipples swelled, hardening as fingers swirled over them, caressing them through the fabric.

“You are getting so turned on. You can feel the need to touch yourself building inside you, can’t you?”

Geraldine sighed in agreement as her fingers slid over her stomach and down, sliding over her damp knickers as her hand cupped her crotch.

“You try so hard to be a good mother when all you want to be is a slut. To be a fucktoy, to be used without any shame.”

“Yesss,” Geraldine groaned. She pulled her stomach in as her fingers slid inside her knickers, trailing urgent needy fingers through her curls in search of her button.

“I’m such a needy little cum slut,” Geraldine groaned as her fingers scrabbled inside.

Alex stepped away and watched Geraldine lean against a table. Watched her spread her legs and pressed her hand in harder. Her knuckles bulged through the wet, pink cotton. Geraldine’s other hand pawed at her breast, scooping it out of the bra and tugging at the swollen nipple.

“You need to be fucked, don’t you, Geraldine?” Alex whispered. “You need to be taken, don’t you?”

“Yesss,” hissed Geraldine. “I need to be fucked so bad. I need to cum.”

“Drop your knickers, fucktoy.”

The command was barely out of Alex’s mouth before Geraldine had swiftly tugged her knickers down, revealing her mound of curly dark hairs. Alex could see Geraldine’s juices glistening on her fingers.

Geraldine raised her eyes to gaze at Alex as her fingers moved faster. Alex could hear the squelch squelch squelch as Geraldine’s fingers moved in and out. The smell of lust, heat, want and need filled the room. Alex watched as Geraldine masturbated in front of her.

“Are you a little fucktoy, Geraldine?”

Geraldine blushed but didn’t remove her fingers. 

“Yes,” she sighed. “I need you to fuck me, take me, use me.”

Alex smirked, stepped closer and took Geraldine’s face in her hands, and kissed her hard on the mouth. Geraldine’s eyes closed. Alex kissed her way down Geraldine’s neck and over her breasts. She scooped them out of the shabby-looking lace bra that had been through the wash a few too many times. Geraldine’s dark pink nipples stood out against her pale skin. The tip of Alex’s tongue traced a path over the dimples on her areola as Geraldine whimpered. The nipples swelled, hard, bursting, waiting as Alex blew her breath over it.

“Suck me, bite me,” Geraldine begged, her fingers still curled inside her.

Alex grinned and sucked the left nipple into her mouth, letting her teeth graze the underside of the swollen bud. Geraldine threw her head back and groaned. Alex sucked harder as her finger and thumb rolled the right nipple. She twisted and tugged it, matching the rhythm of her lips and tongue on the left one. As she dug her nails into the right nipple, her teeth closed on the left one and she bit it, hard.

“Fffuuccckkk,” Geraldine wailed. She arched her back as she pressed her hips out. Alex noticed Geradline’s fingers moved faster in and out, the squelch squelch squelch rising in volume and tempo as the scent of wet, needy cunt filled the room.

Alex gripped Geraldine’s wrist and slowly pulled her hand away. Geraldine’s fingers glistened with webs of cum cream between the fingers. Alex raised Geraldine’s fingers to her mouth and broke the webbing with her tongue. She slowly slurped Geraldine’s juices from her fingers, not breaking eye contact.

Geraldine watched, glassy-eyed as Alex tasted her juices.

“Mmm, you taste good enough to eat.”

Alex dropped to her knees and ran the flat of her tongue along Geraldine’s slit, smearing the older woman’s honey over her folds and clit. Geraldine’s fingers gripped Alex’s hair, pushing her face between her legs.

“Fuck, yes!” Geraldine cried, humping her hips forward, smearing her juices over Alex’s face as Alex swirled her tongue over Geraldine’s folds. Alex curled her fingers, squeezing Geraldine’s ass cheeks and pulling her in closer. Her nose rubbed against Geraldine’s clit as Alex rolled her tongue into a tube and pushed it inside the slick wet hole.

“Fuck, fuck fuck,” Geraldine whimpered.

Alex’s face was covered. She could feel it sticking to her cheeks as she rubbed her face from side to side like an over-excited puppy. Her nose rubbed against Geraldine’s clit, causing more whimpers and cries from above.

Alex moved her mouth to Geraldine’s clit and replaced her tongue with two fingers. They slid easily into Geraldine’s sopping wet pussy and as her velvet walls gripped Alex’s fingers, Alex swirled her tongue around and around Geraldine’s clit.

As Alex scissored her fingers inside, Geraldine threw her head back and screamed. The pressure of two fingers scissoring and tapping her g spot was too much and she exploded with a howl on Alex’s face.

Alex didn’t relax her grip on Geraldine’s ass, holding tight to her as she sucked the honey flooding out of her. Finally, as the cries turned to whimpers and the whimpers turned to breathless pants, Alex released Geraldine’s crotch from her mouth and gazed up.

She stood up, licking her lips as Geraldine leant against the desk. She held herself with one hand on the desk as she drew lungfuls of oxygen into her chest.

Alex drew herself upright and put her finger under Geraldine’s chin, tilting her head up to meet Alex’s gaze. Geraldine’s eyes were still glazed, they had that far-away look of a just fucked cumslut. She was exhausted, drained but with a sparkle that said ‘I remember this, I remember how good this could be.’

Alex stepped away, letting Geraldine slowly come to.

“As I said,” Alex smiled. “I don’t make anyone do anything they don’t want to do.”

Geraldine reached down and slowly, almost in a daze pulled her clothes back on and buttoned her blouse, and zipped up her skirt.

“The leprechaun will be gone tomorrow and Michael won’t really remember it.”

Geraldine paused and gazed shyly at Alex.

“And me? Will I remember this?”

Alex kissed her one last time. 

“You will. You’ll remember what it feels like to be alive.”