Preview: Impressionable Minds (Patreon)

This a preview to a story dropping next week on Amazon. Pre-order available here.

Synopsis: A mysterious, otherworldly Stranger stumbles upon a late night parent-teacher conference and decides to meddle in the lives of a free-spirited art teacher and the overbearing parents of one of her students. The Stranger makes sure the lives of Susan and Ashley are irrevocably changed, giving them a whole new slew of desires — and responsibilities.

***

“Mr. And Mrs. Henderson, Miss Roberts, I would like to introduce you to a friend of mine,” the principal said, his voice slow and monotonous, as if he were reading lines from a script.

The Stranger watched with excitement as Mr. Boggs presented him to the three other occupants of the classroom, whose eyes were fixed on him as he floated toward the center of the room.

It was almost too easy.

The parents looked at the Stranger, their faces skeptical and inquisitive. “And you are?” Mr. Henderson asked, his voice deep, commanding.

The Stranger could tell the man was a lawyer by his authoritative, persuasive tone, not much unlike his own. He could also sense the distrust in the man's mind, which the Stranger was happy to calm in order to remove him from the picture.

“Unimportant,” the Stranger bellowed as he took Mark’s hand. “Mr. Boggs was just telling me that he needed to discuss something with you on the other side of the building. Something important that can’t wait. Isn’t that right, Principal?”

The Stranger turned to Mr. Boggs, whose skin was clammy, whose cheeks were red and whose khaki pants were suspiciously tighter in the front than they had been before they entered the room.

The Stranger cleared his throat to recapture the principal’s attention. Mr. Boggs turned and gulped, sweat glistening on his brow as he mindlessly nodded.

Mark Henderson tensed in the Stranger's grasp, reluctant to abandon his war of words with Miss Roberts for some unexplained side quest.

"My wife and I would like to finish our conversation with Miss Roberts first. I'm not done here," Mark said, his voice sharp, stern.

Suddenly, Mr. Boggs stood upright. “Your conversation will have to wait. This is urgent,” he said, his voice commanding, no room for discussion.

There was a brief pause, a moment of stillness between the five of them.

The Hendersons were clearly not expecting the sudden change in demeanor from the usually amiable principal.

"This is absurd," Mark said, agitated.

Susan Henderson was equally frustrated, both by the principal’s intrusion and his apparent lack of regard for her presence in the seeming emergency.

“Whatever you need to discuss with my husband can be said in front of me, thank you very much," she said, her arms crossed tightly against her chest, her face twisted in a look of annoyance.

The Stranger could feel the anger emanating from the couple, the tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. With a deep power both undeniable and unexplainable, he entered the minds of the distressed couple, making a quick adjustment and altering their mindsets, soothing the growing animosity. The Stranger was the only one who could see the shift in attitude.

Mr. Henderson’s posture softened and he turned to his wife and smiled.

“I’ll be back in a jiffy,” he said, the phrase uncharacteristic of the stern man Susan married.

Mr. Boggs smiled at the two women, turned on his heel and retreated toward the door, Mr. Henderson following along like an obedient puppy.

The redhead watched with confusion, her disgust tempered by the Stranger’s powers, as the two men departed for a conversation that was apparently both urgent and private, leaving her with a complete Stranger and her daughter’s teacher, whom she’d just spent the last 10 minutes berating.

Now alone with the two women, the Stranger proceeded with his plan.