KALICO: 1 Hypnotized, Naked in Hope Springs, Texas

Kalico: Think Outside The Box

My Own Posthypnotic Assignment

Kalico: mid-morning Tuesday with Mr. Coltwright

When the change-of-class bell rang, I made the [...] signal in my head so I would remember to make it here as I change chapters.

Not much happened during our "recess." I left the room for a moment to drink at the water fountain near the boys' restroom door. I hadn't realized how thirsty I was. When I returned, Mr. Coltwright and I talked of inconsequential things while we waited for the next bell.

"It's a long way up here to the third floor; is this where you all keep the Giant Three-Headed Dog?" I asked, hoping to make small talk.

"If we do, it's probably guarding the Secret Portal to Insight down at the far hallway," he answered.

"Yeah? What's that?" I asked.

"The door to the girls' restroom," he said. "Boys are always wondering what's inside. Sometimes they find insight or better understanding of girls' personalities just from hanging around outside the door, or so they would hope."

"Good one, Professor," I laughed. "Do you suppose it's a valuable insight they'd find? Why not have a special 'Swap Bathrooms Day' and make everyone use their opposite-gender restrooms. Or we could just have Insight Day, and invite the boys in to use ours? That could be a new school tradition. I must say I've gained all sorts of insight from visiting theirs."

Mr. Coltwright returned my laugh, saying, "Good one for you, too, Kalico. Can you explain any of your new insight yet?"

"Not a lot, but maybe some subtle things," I said. "Take those urinals, for example. They're commonplace for the boys, but foreign to us girls. Yet they represent such a basic difference. Boys stand up to pee, while that's generally beyond our skills."

He smiled and nodded.

(Duh, I'm thinking, everyone knows that.)

"Yet that difference, standing up to pee, symbolizes so much of the arrogance and sense of superiority that boys exhibit. Maybe I can rephrase it: As symbolized by the way they pee, this maleness is trained into the boys from their earliest days – and little girls are trained, too. We are trained to female behavior; trained to accept the philosophy that girls can't do as much as boys.

"Is this a better way to describe the insight? Probably not. Most likely I'm just voicing some manifestation of penis envy and all the guys would have a giggle from this if they could hear our conversation. I believe it was a man who coined the term 'penis envy.'

"Maybe I gained some insight from breaking taboos," I continued. "I felt an odd thrill when I was in there. I know the risk of getting caught was slight; but what if someone had walked in and found me in the wrong restroom? What would they have thought of me? What would I have done?"

"Most probably they would have thought you needed to use the restroom very urgently, which was correct. Right?" I nodded. "Or maybe they would have thought 'here is an adventuresome young lady,'" he continued.

"That's another thing. Yes, it was urgent. I really needed to pee. Beyond that urgent urge to pee, though, was this urgent idea I had in my head hat I should use that particular restroom," I analyzed.

"I know you said to do it yesterday when we were doing that hypnosis exercise. Yet, it didn't feel like hypnosis. It still doesn't. Today when I did it again, I know in my heart that wasn't from a posthypnotic suggestion. Yet, I ran up the stairs faster, and started running from a farther distance away. And this time I thought I was going to wet my pants."