Mike could control people’s minds. That was his gift. That was his talent that made him different from most other people. See, most other people were psychic or could see dead people and there were a few telekinetic’s that he knew of, but there were really no people that could control minds. Mike usually took over the minds of people who were weak or didn’t have much of a will. How could Mike take over someone’s mind that wouldn’t let the average ordinary person control or take advantage of him or her on a daily basis? If these people were not going to let the average take over his or her mind, then how could he expect to take over his or her mind as well? Truth was, his powers didn’t work on the strong willed. Mike controlled people like the low self-esteemed teenager or the distraught employee. When he came across one of these people, he wouldn’t use his powers for selfish uses. In fact, he didn’t use his powers for bad at all.
He could make the weak walk into a grocery store and steal for him, or change a teachers’ schedule from curricular to an eventful itinerary, but Mike didn’t use his powers in that way; well, sometimes he controlled a teacher; most teachers are easy to take advantage of-too many students at once can overthrow the most attentive teacher into a frenzy, much like when an overwhelmed teacher answering a student with, “Yea, yea,” when the kid asked if he could pee in the plant in the corner. He would control these kind of teachers so that their lives could be care-free and slightly more relaxed.
Mike usually tried to use his powers to make the weak strong. He would make a low self-esteem person the center of attention, the discouraged individual a warrior bent on ambition and determination, and a lovesick, heartbroken woman a proud single woman. The way he controlled minds was by putting feelings and emotions into the minds of all those he saw and heard were dealing with a particular problem. Another way he controlled someone’s mind was by making choices for him or her-where to walk and what to say. He usually did this on a daily basis, but today he was having trouble finding someone weak or in a moment of vulnerability.
He usually walked into restaurants and sat at a booth next to a couple or group that were busy chatting away. He liked to hear the problems going on in the lives of all those strangers most do not notice day by day. There could be a person with real pain walking through a grocery store that one passes by, but one rarely notices. In a dark corner of a room there could be sitting a man with his head bent down to the world-these were the people that needed help and whom Mike looked for. Every person who was under Mike’s control felt like he or she was in control, he or she had full consciousness of the actions that were undergoing,and they didn’t forget about those actions after they had been undertaken; but none knew of his or her puppeteer.
Today though, there really wasn’t anybody complaining; at least no one he could find. Mike decided to venture down a completely different street when he couldn’t find anyone to control. He was walking down the sidewalk next to a couple of shops trying to listen to the complaints of all those who passed him. There were the average ordinary complaints that he heard everyday; there were complaints about a rude employee or a refrigerator or car on the fritz-nothing Mike could really do about, but wanted to.
Mike was about to call it a day, when he saw a homeless man sitting by a trash can near a busy and overcrowded street. No one seemed to pay much attention to him, even though he was right between a store entrance and a street corner. Mike didn’t notice him there before either, if he had been there before.
The man was wearing a gray jacket that was filled with dirt and tar stains, and a black beanie with a large hole on the left side. His pants were filled with holes and he was wearing one shoe and one sock with a hole in the big toe. His face had etched lines around his mouth and eyes. He was leaning against the building with his hands on his stretched out legs. The position of his arms on his legs looked as if he had let them fall to that position, for his shoulder’s drooped and his fingers remained motionless.
Mike walked over to the man and decided to chat with him, only he didn’t know what to say. From the man’s stance and persona, he looked tired and not in the mood for friendly conversation. Mike figured it best to not introduce by small talk. He went straight to the point.
“Hi,” Mike said. Mike felt a little hesitant after speaking. He wasn’t sure if that was the correct approach.
The man looked up at Mike with one eye open, for the other eye was at a squint from the sun gazing down upon his face. The man put his head back down without saying a word. Mike expected as much. Then Mike said:
“I heard ‘Little Bistro’ was hiring for a busser if you’re interested.”
The man looked back up at Mike, trying to open the other half closed eye so that he could see the man speaking better. Then he spoke.
“Do you really think that that ritzy joint would hire a crummy looking man like me? I have no fancy attire and I have no clean clothes. My skin isn’t the color it ought to be-dirt encrusted itself between the hair on my arms, and my shoes…,” he paused to look down at his feet, “my shoe is scratched and my foot is cold and exposed. Go away. I don’t want any help, and especially not the ‘help wanted’ kind.” The man then got up to walk away.
Mike reached his hand into his pocket. He held out his wallet to open it. He found a few twenty-dollar bills concealed inside. He looked up at the man now hobbling away. Then Mike said, “Come back here.”
The man stopped and turned back around instantly. Next Mike said, “Now you are going into this store right here,” he pointed to the store the man was leaning next to, which was a clothing store, “and you are going to buy yourself some clean clothes.”
The homeless man turned and held open the door for himself, and then started walking into the store. Mike followed. The homeless man began looking at a pair of black slacks, a tie, a plaid shirt, and two shiny leather shoes. Mike supervised the entire time, barking orders to the man as he was trying on clothes.
After the shopping spree Mike told the man, “You are coming home with me so that you can have a hot bath and a hot meal. As well as a warm bed to sleep in through the night.”
The homeless man nodded his head and began walking towards Mike’s home, even though Mike hadn’t begun inputting his mind with directions.
Mike controlled the man the entire time he stayed with him. He didn’t want the man to run away because the man seemed set on declining help. He told the man to turn on the water and take a long hot bath; the man began undressing himself right in the middle of Mike’s living room. Mike said to the man, “Stop;” the man stopped. Mike then began inputting the rest of the orders for the remainder of the night.
Mike took a risk with controlling the man because, even though the man seemed stubborn and strong-willed, he could have been hiding the fact that he needed help. Mike thought the man was too physically weak to fight off anyone.
The next morning Mike went into the room of the homeless man to wake him up with the smell of breakfast. The man was still asleep in bed and was far too tired to wake just yet. Mike brought the food into the room, and then set it down on the end table next to the bed. The homeless man soon started to stir, his nose moved slightly as his nostrils filled with the smell of pancakes and sausage. He finally allowed himself to wake and he grabbed a pancake with his hand. He gobbled down the pancake fast and was already reaching for another one. Mike didn’t have to use mind control to wake him up; the food had done its job.
“After you finish your breakfast you are going to get up and dress in the new clothes you bought yesterday. Next, you are going to go into the ‘Little Bistro’ and ask for a job interview.” The man continued eating breakfast. After his plate was empty, the man didn’t say a word to Mike as he was getting dressed for the interview.
The two walked into the “Little Bistro” where a female hostess greeted them. The homeless man said to the hostess, “Can I have a job?”
The hostess stared at the homeless man with a look of confusion. She looked like she was about to laugh in his face, but Mike quickly tried to control her mind and change her response to a positive and agreeable one.
“Sure, follow me,” she said.
Mike followed them until they had reached the manager of the restaurant. The hostess told the manager that the homeless man wanted a job and that he could have one. The manager raised one eyebrow at the trio before her and was about to say something negative, but Mike took care of that.
“Okay, I will interview you right here,” the manager said. And she began asking the homeless man a series of questions, all of which Mike had answered for the man.
The manager, without manipulation, seemed to have found the man’s answers and appearance satisfactory, for she gave him a job right after the interview was finished. Mike knew that both the hostess and manager would be easy to manipulate, for the restaurant was one Mike frequented often and had overheard both women’s complaints and had seen their vulnerability.
Mike walked away silently after the job was taken. On his way out of the restaurant he “stopped” an employee from putting a “Help Wanted” sign on the front window.