"Hey, man," Judd exclaimed, "are you some sort of religious nut? You gonna save us from our sins?"
"No," I assured him, shaking my head, "I'm just going to tell you some things and if what I say doesn't make sense to you, then I'll turn you loose and you can do whatever you wish."
They looked at me suspiciously, then Griff said, "What's stopping us from walking out right now?"
I told him. "That door to the hall is red hot. If you try to open it you'll get burned. You'll find the same is true of the windows."
I could see they didn't consciously believe me. As they both got up, Griff said, "You're plumb crazy, man. There's nothing wrong with that door. I think maybe we should be doctoring you."
Judd reached the door first and started to open it, but as soon as his hand touched the doorknob he let out a scream and jerked backwards.
"Yeowww!" Judd wailed as he frantically waved his hand in the air trying to cool it. "God damn it. That crazy bastard's right. Look at my hand!"
He held his reddened hand out for Griff to examine. Griff apparently accepted the reality of Judd's pain, for he turned to me and said sarcastically, "Okay, man, how the hell did ya manage that little trick?"
"I hypnotized you into believing the door was red hot," I explained. "There was nothing you could do about it because I was working with your subconscious mind, not your conscious one. As long as your subconscious mind holds my suggestion, you won't be able to get out that door."
Judd, still holding his hand, glared at me and said, "Well, if it's all in my mind, then how come I've got these God damned-blisters on my hand?"
"Because your body can only do what your mind directs it to do," I answered. "Your mind believes your hand is burned so it directs your nerves to signal pain and your gland system to produce blisters."
"Okay, man," Griff nodded, "we'll buy the science lecture, but how about you knocking off this messin' around with our minds. You were lucky this morning. You don't think you can take us both at the same time, do you? We'd bust you right in half."
"I made a mistake this morning," I admitted, "and I'm paying for it. But I'm not going to fight you again."
"You mean you're just going to stand there and let us tear you up?" Judd sneered. "I can just see that. Sure you are. Noooo, sir. You fight like a madman. You did this morning, and you'll do it again right now first time we lift a fist."
"No, I won't," I responded, "I don't have to. From now on if either one of you tries to harm anyone you'll only succeed in doing it to yourself."
They looked at me skeptically, so I said, "If you haven't learned to believe me, you can try and see for yourself. I'm warning you, though, that you'll only hurt yourself."
"Bash him one, Griff," Judd urged. "Call his bluff."
"So he can get hurt like you did?" I asked.
Griff approached me warily and with obvious uncertainty. Finally he sidled up to within striking distance and began giving me what he clearly hoped was a frightening stare. I remained standing and smiled at him.
"Remember," I said, "you've been warned that any harm you try to do to anyone else will only happen to you."
"Okay," Griff said, "I believe you, man. I wouldn't think of hurting you."
With these words he pretended to turn away but when he was half turned he suddenly let go with a twisting uppercut to my jaw. It had tremendous force as Griff soon discovered, for his fist missed my chin and like a boomerang, came crashing back into his own jaw, knocking him off balance so that he fell heavily to the floor.
"What 'the hell?" Judd exclaimed, "you didn't even move and Griff knocked himself down. What the hell's happening?"
"I told you, but you refused to believe me. How badly do you have to hurt yourselves before you-start believing me?"
Griff had climbed to his feet and gingerly touched his sore jaw. He came at me fiercely and stopped just short of my body. A combination of rage and puzzled amazement filled his eyes. Drawing up his fist, he hesitated, then sticking out his index finger poked at my chest. The pokes of course landed on his own befuddled self.
He eyed me thoughtfully. I had a feeling that he was getting ready to give some genuine consideration to what I had to say.
"You've seen that if you think something is true it has real consequences," I said. "Well, I'm trying to show you that the way we think causes everything that happens to us. If we think negatively it has negative results for us, and if we think positively it has positive results for us."
"Crap!" Judd exclaimed." Now we get a sermon on the power of positive thinking. Right?"
"No," I said, "I'm going to give you a demonstration. From now on, every angry thought that you have, about anything and for any reason, will cause a violent headache. It will last only as long as your angry thoughts."
"OOOWWEE! Jesus Christ, man!" Judd cried as he clutched his forehead.
"What's wrong? Griff asked.
"That son of a bitch is sticking daggers into my head," Judd shouted: "Ooooh-it's killing me! Stop it! Stop it!"
"You are the only one who can stop it, Judd," I explained. "When you stop thinking angry thoughts at me the pain will stop."
"Do as he says, Judd," Griff advised. "That bastard's got a hex on us. I guess you better do as he says."
The pain seemed to have reached the point where Judd could think only of it, and the angry thoughts were crowded out of his mind by thoughts of how to get rid of the pain. His face which had been distorted by the pain now gradually relaxed and he gave a sigh of relief as he wiped his forehead with his shirt sleeve.
"There," I said, "all you had to do was stop your angry thoughts and the headache stopped, too. Now I'm going to leave you so you can think about what I've said, and if you still have doubts about the truth of my statements you can test them out. Any questions before I leave?"
"Yeah, man," Griff said. "How long you plannin' on keepin' us here?"
"You've got enough cereal and milk to last you till tomorrow morning. I'll be back then," I answered.
"You're keepin' us here just like the pigs keep people in jail!" Griff protested then spit at me.
A split second later he was wiping his face with one hand while the other held his throbbing forehead. He howled, "I didn't mean it... I'm sorry-damn it, I said I'm sorry!"
"You don't have to convince me," I responded. "Just convince yourself that you aren't angry and your headache will go away. Well, see you tomorrow. Here's wishing you loving, happy thoughts."
With those words I left them and walked down to Karl and Neda's apartment. By this time it was midafternoon and I was just in time to be invited to a late luncheon which Neda had just prepared. Since I hadn't eaten anything yet, I let Karl and Neda do most of the talking while I concentrated on reducing my hunger pangs. Then I told them about my experiences so far that day.
As I had expected, Karl favored turning my captives over to the police. He wasn't at all happy about having two rapists in the same building with his new wife. Scooting his chair closer to hers, Karl put his arm around her protectively. Neda, however, supported my arguments for trying to rehabilitate them.
"After all, Karl," she kept repeating, "look what Jon did for me. If he can make a silk purse out of an ugly sow's ear like I was, why couldn't he work a miracle with those hoodlums?"
"Oh, yeah," Karl replied. "Well, I've learned something about Jon's Macro philosophy and I know, and Jon will agree, that you can't help anyone who doesn't want to be helped. The person has to actively cooperate. He couldn't have helped you if you hadn't had sufficient desire and belief."