what are the odds of a single woman being at this thing?
any hot mommies?
excuse me, hello, i enjoy soft-core as much as the next guy, but this is almost like incest for me.
get the fuck outta here! he grabs maggie and hugs her. tom starts up the steps. philip look at this, i haven't even had a second date in a year and a half, you guys are on your second kid! philip catches up to tom and throws his arms around him. philip you big huggable bear. you're still goin' back to school, though, right? you promised me.
i'm telling you, if you never go back to college you'll regret it for the rest of your life. the memories i have of being a freshman -- those were three of the happiest years of my life.
not attracted to.  -- sheila, a thin, nervous woman around frank's age -- philip not drunk enough for.  -- and a loud woman with enormous hair. philip frightened by.
then how could they have needles stuck into their throats without bleeding? without even making a sound?
uh, hello, i had a two inch needle stuck right into the thick of my arm, by my professor, while i was under hypnosis.
why not?
i thought you didn't believe in it.
no sound.from anyone, please. any distraction can break it up. he raises his index finger and holds it about a foot in front of tom's face. philip okay. look at it.
shall we try this again?
look at me, tom. you're not afraid of this. you want this to happen. don't you?
maggie, please, i nearly have a master's degree in cognitive psy-
well, i've seen it done a dozen times.
you want to be hypnotized. say yes.
"i want to be hypnotized."
okay. close your eyes. as tom does, our eyes close too, big heavy lashes dropping over everything and plunging us into blackness. philip just listen for a moment.
how do you feel?
a little, hot, maybe? everybojy laughs again. tom wipes his forehead. he's covered with sweat. he gets up. he doesn't like this at all, being the only one not in on the joke.
nothing much. just had you stretched out as stiff as a board between those two chairs -- he points to two dining room chairs that are sitting back to back four or five feet apart. philip -- and ran this back and forth under your legs. tom feels the backs of his legs. he looks at maggie.
don't.
tom, look --
you're getting a little too worked up about this.
why'd you do that, tom?
i couldn't resist. tom cranks an arm around philip's neck and pulls him down, choking him. but it's playful, his sense of humor returning.
what time is it?
quarter after eight? jesus, tom, this is barbaric.
hang on, lemme, i gotta get my bearings here.  who is this again?
if you're asking if i gave you a post-
no.
no, i swear! i went out of my way not to, i even added a thing at the end to make sure!
i, i didn't want you to retain any of the experience, you know, i wanted you to have control back, so i made up this thing.
god, i don't remember, i haven't had caffeine in almost eighteen hours, how am i supposed to-
well, it was perfectly harmless, i just said, uh, i said "when you come out from under, your mind will be completely free. there's nothing binding it. nothing holding it back. you will be completely open." tom stops, thinking for a long moment.
describes what?
describes what? but tom has hung up. philip unplugs the phone and goes back to sleep.
what, what, what?
just slow down, you gotta be a little patient with me here, `cause, um.  well, tom, tom, i've got a confession to make. see i, i, i just smoked this great big fatty a few minutes before you walked in, so this shit you're tellin' me here is fuckin' with my mind just a little bit extra, okay? tom grabs a chair from philip's desk and sits.
okay. close your eyes. tom closes his eyes.
all right, all right. tom closes his eyes again. philip i want you to pretend you're in a movie theatre.
no, it's empty.
no, man, i said you're alone in the theatre.
i want you to look at the screen.
look at the screen, tom.
what?! what happened?!
are you okay?! tom wipes his brow, he's covered in sweat.
i think you need to sit down, man, something very next level was happening there, you should have seen your face. only beer in the fridge. tom cracks one open and upends it. philip uh.  want a brew? tom drinks the entire can. philip feel better? tom nods, wiping his chin. philip what happened? tom looks at him, calming.
it's okay, i can watch him. maggie, in a hurry, agrees. she bends over and kisses jake on the forehead.