The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Ole Time Curios

Chapter 1 : A New Shop

College was soon going to be a distant memory for Lacey Dupree. Soon she’d be worried about job interviews, and then after that—hopefully—working. Gone would be the no class Thursdays where she could ride her bike into town. Sunnington was a small college town, it’d probably be nothing without Glenda College, the all girl’s school nearby. While it hadn’t been her first choice, she did have to admit as the sun streamed down around her and naught else but the sound of wind birds, and the turning of her bicycle’s wheels, it had grown on her.

What hadn’t grown on her was the dreaded freshman fifteen (or sophomore seventeen for that matter). While she might have liked to have gained a bit up top just for a boost of self-confidence, not being top heavy had its perks. Her slender figure make bicycle riding and jogging through the nearby woods a tad easier.

Her penchant for hiking and bicycling also helped her keep her sanity during some of the more frustrating times. As one of the girls in the school who hadn’t decided to experiment with the fairer sex, the only flirtation fun she’d get was when she’d either ride or hike into town. Who cares if she’d been labelled a bit of a tease, it was her right to play with their attentions a little, there was no harm in it.

The town was not much noisier than usual, though there was a new store front where there had been a used record shop. A few swarthy men were working ? or more accurately taking a break in front of it. It looked mostly finished. Ole Time Curios was stenciled in calligraphy on the front window, and she peered in to some of the oddities inside.

One of the workers was watching her approach, with her long legs, and spaghetti strapped tank that clung to her little torso with spots of perspiration from her ride. He whistled in appreciation, “Hey, lookin’ good honey.” His buddy smacked him on the shoulder with a laugh hoping to not spoil the great view of her ass by making her walk away too soon. Their leers ripped into her day, suddenly making her feel quite alone.

She stole a quick glance and when he met her gaze, she quickly turned away ? he was brazen, and unashamed with that crooked toothed grin. Something about it set off her alarm bells.

“Don’t be shy, sweetie, let me holla at you, you fine little thing—”

The door opened, and well-groomed man with a distinguished aura emerged from the store, he turned to Lacey, “Ah do you see something that you like in the display? Please come —”

The second worker chirped in with a slimy chuckle, “I see something I like.”

The man turned to face the workers, putting himself between Lacey and them, “Ho there, Slackjaw, I don’t pay you to sit there and harrass the customers. You’re done today, I give you leave to vacate the premises.” After a beat he added, “Now.”

“My apologies, miss, as the saying goes, it is so difficult to find good help these days.”

She took a moment absorbing it all. Now completely unbothered by the men with their abrupt dismissal, she marveled at the absolute un-PC character of what had just taken place. Part of her felt better without the leering, but she wasn’t sure she liked the white knight coming to the rescue. “I was fine, I can handle myself,” she said with an independent puffing of the chest.

He smiled, “I am sure you were fine, however, they were out of line and needed to be corrected, regardless. But I digress, has my shop piqued your curiosity?”

He seemed genuine in his motive. Plainly, a business owner he would want to stop that behavior, but she was an autonomous agent able to fend for herself without needing to be treated as fragile. She decided to let the whole social dynamic rest for the moment, and give him the benefit of the doubt as a shopkeeper. Still, she filed it away to chew on it later. Taking a breath she turned to the question and to him with a smile, “Kind of, yeah, what is this place, exactly?”

“Ole Time Curios, a place of wonder, where one can find old memories or define new ones, where knickknacks are the order of the day. Come in, come in for a spell and take respite from the heat!”

She smiled and prompted by his peculiar manner of speech, responded in kind, “Don’t mind if I do,” she said with a slightly affected southern accent.

“Dorsey Basilton is my name, and this is my playground,” he inhaled the cool air of his shop, “Ah yes, the joys of air conditioning, a definite postmodern addition, back in the older times, the only civilized way to beat the heat was to unbutton your blazer and sip on a Diplomatic Rickey in the shade, maybe fan yourself with your boater if it is really sweltering. I have a few fans for the ladies, you know, quite demure you might like one. I didn’t catch your name, miss...”

“Lacey.”

“Ah a lovely name, very young name, though popular in the 80’s. Names are interesting things some come and go like fashions and some are timeless. Names like ...” Lacey checkout out of his ramblings and just starting peering at the random oddities. Still he continued rambling on. “Some even change gender association. Kim—for example used to be an exclusively masculine name, did you know that? It really is a fascinating thing. Ah there you are, you have a good eye.”

“Huh?”

“You’re staring at the clockwork schooner.”

She blinked. She was staring at a pile of gears and odd angled clips, hinges, and greased shoestrings by her measure. “That’s a schooner?”

“Clockwork schooner, here let me show you.” She watched entranced as his fingers deftly worked magic assembling folding tinkering with the metal parts until in a matter of moments, they had turned from a mess of parts into a differently shaped random mess of parts.

“Uhm...”

“Wait, come over here and watch,” he indicated and she took his spot and knelt down to looked closely at the contraption which was now round and with a hollow center and a crank on the side. “Wait one more moment...” he produced a candle and a match and lit it and set it in the center. “Now lights...” He strode the the side wall, pulled a rope and blackout drapes covered the front window, suddenly darkening the place to nearly night. Still, the candle lit metal did nothing of interest. He strode back and placed a book behind the contraption and began to turn the crank.

Then... magic. The shadows from the candle on the book cast an image of a schooner on the ocean, and as he turned it, it seemed to move up and down with the tide. She gasped causing the light to flicker briefly, then watched as it continued to sail on the ocean. “Cool,” she added then she noted what she thought had been a random shadow was actually a shark fin chasing after to boat. “How does it... wow.”

“Ex-ACTLY! That, yes, that,” he strode back to the wall, “That is what I am going for!” He continued talking as he pulled the ropes to lift the blackout drapes again. She had to admit, he had a flair for the dramatic. “You... get... what.. I.. am... Doing... here we go. Yes, that there, a world of wow, a bevy of blinking beautiful things to add wonder to the days going by from days gone by.”

He’d turned his back and gone off to the next great thing so she blew out the candle and followed him.

“Ah here, a shave ice machine, you like shave ice, yes? Of course you do!”

“Uhm, I’m fine, thanks.”

“Oh nonsense, you can’t tell me you’re on a diet, you’re so slim, Ally McBeal would offer you her only spoonful of hummus, I’ll make one for you.”

“Ally Who?”

“Hmm, that reference is a little bit dated I suppose. Oh how time flies, never mind that though. Tell you what, I’ll make you one only as an excuse because I want one, but I feel bad if I am not making one for a customer. See you’ll be doing me a favor, yes? Excellent it is settled, you are building Karma, making my day better, it’s perfect, and you can help me test it out, I haven’t made any since last time, so it’s perfect, kismet, meant to be, snow doubt about it, Snow Cone time!”

She couldn’t do anything but giggle, he had an energy that was unlike anything else she’d experienced before.

He set about making the shave ice in a bowl when he turned to her and said, “You should work here, you get it the wonderment of it, are you looking for a job?”

“Me?”

“Well I was going to offer one to the talking mouse over there on the sill, but I think you’d be better with the customers, and the mouse is porcelain.”

“Oh, I don’t know.”

“It’d be fun, I promise, and I won’t take yes for an answer unless you mean it.”

“Don’t you mean won’t take no for an answer?”

“Of course not, I mean exactly what I say, when I say it.”

“Uhm, then... no?”

“Hmm, that didn’t work, maybe that’s why I don’t get many sales, see I need your brilliance on board, here, let me flavor this for you, Lemon, Cherry, Motor Oil, or Whimsy. You look like a Cherry girl, I’ll have a Whimsy, I’m definitely more of a Whimsy guy. Or maybe a lemon, I like lemon, hmm, which will you have?”

“Uhm, I’ll try the whimsy.”

“Perfect, there we go, one whimsy and a lemon coming right up. You know they didn’t have very much ice to go on back in the day...” He continued prattling on and she listened with interest. At the school the professors were mostly women and mostly spoke on subjects that—while important—were things for which they seemed to feel either no passion. Either that or there was her womyn’s studies professor who felt more than passion, but rather an ardent fervor. There wasn’t anyone who was just excitedly happy about something. This Dorsey fellow was made of pure joy even if a little odd.

Lacey let a giggle slip. She felt almost bad for him, he seemed to have so much love for all of this stuff, but with the way he spoke, her gay-dar was firing off pretty hardcore. While that might endear him to the girl’s school, the poor guy was not going to find too much help from the local community in this rural town. Still, his smile was nice, and the whimsy flavored shave ice was actually quite good.

She couldn’t quite place the flavor, perhaps there were floral hints, lilac maybe? But it was unlike anything she’d had before. She smiled lazily, much more relaxed now after that encounter before. Perhaps there was a hint of peppermint in it, because it made her lips tingle just the slightest bit. Whatever it was, it was quite tasty, and tasty enough that she kept eating rather than interrupt him as he showed her a few more pieces.

It was hard to pay attention, though, her thoughts kept drifting off to random places. No matter, he led her further into the store and she wondered idly what interesting bauble she’d see next. But she blinked and thought, to herself then said aloud, “Wait, I have to go back... to school. I think—I...”

“Oh of course you will, but first let me show you this one last marvel.”

She tried to think of a thought or a train of something, “but... I.” He took her hand and gently led her back. It seemed a shame to be rude, after all he was such a nice man.

“Don’t you worry for another minute, you will love it, you must see it, it’s another clockwork.”

Before she knew it, she found herself seated in the back office, head in a pleasant haze of whimsy and staring at flickering light patterns.

“There you are, that’s so much better isn’t it? Now this clockwork is made to take you on a journey through story, so just sit back and relax and let go of your worries as we turn the wheel and see the gears spin round and round, and the magic beings. It is all light and shadow, and you’re so relaxed and the light is so pretty. Focus here as the illusion begins, there you are. Just relax and focus on the light.”

He was right, the light really was very pretty. Inside she could see a silhouette, a figure, a girl, as pretty as a picture. A girl very much like her. She wanted to know more about this girl, so she focused and relaxed.

“With each breath you take you feel the light within you in... and as you exhale, feel the light within you flow out. Relaxed. You’re a good college girl and good college girls know how to focus. Focus on the girl in the clockwork. Focus...”

She was just as he said, a great college student, and students know how to focus. To focus and relax.

She could prove her worth as a good college girl by focusing. Breath in. Breath out.

Being in college was good. And she was good at it. Why? Why was she in college?

“To get a degree...” Why? “To get a good job,” she replied aloud.

Of course, to get a good job. She focused and relaxed, breathing in and breathing out. Being a good college girl was important, but she needed a good job. And to get a good job, she needed experience. One couldn’t expect to get a good job without experience. She needed to keep being a good college girl, but she needed some experience.

His voice centered her, and led her deeper, until she found herself in a room. Not just any room, but a wonderful room, warm and safe, with lights soft and memories surrounding her. She rose to her feet and walked to the wall. There, a hand guided her hand with a pen. This guiding hand helped her write the words on the wall. True words, words that made sense with every line and curve. She stood back and read the words aloud. ‘I am a good girl. I need a good job.’

She needed a job. Of course she needed a job. It clicked in her head, to be an ambitious young woman, a good college girl and to get the best in life, she needed a job. She was independent and strong—no wait, that was wrong, she wanted to be independent and strong. That’s why she came to college. Now she just needed to get a job.

“3... 2... 1...”

Lacey Dupree looked up from the antique chess board. He’d showed her this lovely antique chessboard and they played a game while talking about careers and ambition. Dorsey Basilton was quite an interesting person to talk to. But suddenly it struck Lacey, she did need a job, why hadn’t she thought of it before!

“Oh, uhm, Dorsey? That job offer, is that still open?”

“Oh course my dear, you’d be a wonderful help! Can you start Monday?”

She smiled, “Oh wonderful, thank you so so much!”

On the ride home in the coolness of the evening her heart sung with pride, ‘My first job!’