✅ Potty Genius [NaNoWriMo 2022]

Forty-Three (Flashback)

This chapter is dedicated to my newest supporter on Patreon, Bingus. Thank you for your support! And a happy new year to all my readers.

¿Why would you resist having the suggestions removed?

They seemed kind of uncomfortable talking about it, and we put it off for now. I didn't want to get into a long conversation anyhow, because I knew that I was kind of on the clock. It was weird to think that these two felt like such close friends, but they were really helping me because I was paying for the service. Still, Theo offered a chat over lunch tomorrow, and then it wouldn't be an actual hypnosis appointment, so we wouldn't have the same thoughts about the cost distracting me. I agreed to that, and settled my bill before heading off to see if Mazzar's had anything appealing that I couldn't afford.

The next day, I showed up at their door with a bag containing a selection of Thai food in little waxed-paper boxes. Britney had asked me to think of something for lunch, I guess as a kind of substitute after Theo had said I wouldn't need to pay for her services today. I figured that bringing food with me would be the best option, so there was no chance of our conversation being overheard here. I'd picked a variety of things, so there was bound to be something that each of them would enjoy.

We spread everything out on the counter in the reception area, and sat down to eat. I was desperate for an answer, but I couldn't bring myself to ask. I was half expecting some kind of request for more money; a revelation that Theo could have cured me whenever she wanted if I'd just been able to pay more. Or maybe I was expecting on some level to hear an answer that I really didn't want to be true.

"You used to love Thai food when you were younger," Britney said, after a little while.

"Yeah," I nodded, and smiled. "Dad used to pick it up on the way home, when he was working late. He'd earn a whole bunch in overtime then, paid for all my birthdays and Christmasses. It's always been kind of a comfort food. Is it that obvious?"

"No. You told us. Yesterday."

"I asked you to remember the happiest points of your childhood," Theo explained. "I thought that if we could create a clear mental image of childhood thoughts in your mind, we could fence it off. Help you to distinguish between your past and present state of mind. But..."

"And I told you about those days Dad would be home late? Yeah, I guess those would have been happy days. I mean, we had dinner late because we'd wait for Dad to come home, and I might have been a bit hungry. But I remember being more... excited, I guess? I felt like it was a treat, rather than something to be upset about. Being later than usual just made it feel more special. Does that make sense?"

"I think so," Theo nodded. "When you're a child, how you see something can depend a lot on how the people around you act. And anything you enjoy can become a kind of ritual. It can have meaning to you in a way you don't quite understand."

"So..." Britney said. "Do you want to see if you can tell us the same story now, when you're awake? Because how you phrased it in trance was a bit... it's like it was very subjective, so might not have been the clearest. And, not to be selfish, but it feels kind of awkward to me if we're trying to follow up on a conversation you don't remember having."

"Wait..." I mumbled. "If what I say now isn't exactly the same, does that mean I'm lying? To you, or to myself?"

"No. It means that what you say in trance can be emotionally true, but not factually true. Like if we were asking about your childhood Christmas, you might talk about Santa being mean with the presents one year, and whatever acts you believed might have earned you a place on the naughty list. Whereas if we asked you now, you would view those memories in terms of what you know now, perhaps your parents having financial trouble and not being able to afford the latest toys, or realising in hindsight that you asked for something excessive. When we ask you a question in trance, you'll be honest about how it felt. But small children aren't good at understanding events that they aren't directly a part of. It's a different kind of truth."