The Hypnotist

Channel Hopper

It was entertainment night at the home for the elderly and the famous variety hypnotist Claude was topping the bill.

Residents made sure they were ready for the evening. additional seats were made available for their relatives, and on the night the main hall was full to the rafters. Other residents without easy mobility had the event piped into their rooms via the close circuit TV.

At 9pm Claude went on stage to rapturous applause, took a bow and announced,
"Tonight is special for me, and I intend to enter the record books by hypnotising each and every member of this audience."

The excitement was almost electric as Claude withdrew a beautiful pocket watch from his coat.
"I want you each to keep your eye on this antique watch. It's a very special watch and has been in my family for six generations."

He began to swing the watch gently back and forth while quietly
chanting, "Follow the watch, listen only to my voice, follow the watch, my voice is all hear, follow the watch..."
The crowd became mesmerized as the watch swayed back and forth, light
gleaming off its polished surface. The home staff that were watching were similarly captivated by Claudes voice, the movement of the antique watch.

Within a few seconds hundreds of pairs of eyes were following
the swaying watch, until, suddenly, it slipped from the hypnotist's
fingers and fell to the floor, shattering into pieces of glass, springs and cogs.

"SHIT!" said the Hypnotist...

It took a week to clean up, and Claude was never invited back.

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There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"