Husband Rehab by Curtis Hox Read Free Book Online Page B

behavioral change can occur.   Josie is then to explain their prescribed treatment. Not punishment, no. Treatment . If this soft approach doesn’t work, Christine wants to implement something harsher. The fact is, some men will have to be more than encouraged to do what’s best, even if they don’t want to.  
    “Free will be damned,” Christine says, “when it comes to happiness.”  
    Free will …
    Josie has heard that phrase a thousand times from her grandmother. Josie never understood the reasons why she harped on the intricacies of human agency, as she called it. Yet, Josie’s grandmother always listened respectfully whenever Christine counter argued that craft should enhance a human being’s ultimate happiness, not freedom. Josie first heard the word ‘act,’ in that context as a little girl, and thought they were talking about TV stars. No, what Josie is doing with these men, and what Christine does every day with her expensive prescriptions filled at the drugstore, alters behavior. As long as it helps someone become more of a person, then great. Still, Josie can’t shake the feeling she’s entering new territory. She wants her brewing to affect someone at a fundamental level … without their consent. This sounds less like her grandmother’s way of doing things, and more like Christine’s.
    “You need to remember the things that are important to your wife, Mr. Jenkins.”
    “What things?” A bit of egg falls off his spoon. He frowns at it for doing so. “I have an excellent memory.”
    “I’m sure you do. But when it comes to the little things, you need to give more thought—”
    “Are you kidding? I don’t have time for little things. Do you realize how much money I’m responsible for?”
    “I don’t, sorry.”
    He swallows another bite, smiling at her as if she can’t understand these things. “My wife wants me to remember day-to-day stuff, is that it?”
    “That’s it.”
    “I have heard her say that before.”
    Josie sighs in relief, thinking this might not be difficult at all. “Great. Here’s how this works. You have your laptop, and you’ll probably be making important calls. Work a lot on the weekends?” He nods. “I thought so. That’s fine. But you’re going to have a few simple tasks. Just three or four the entire weekend. Think of it as practice.”
    “What kind of tasks?”
    Josie explains that at two thirty this afternoon, the old horse barn needs to be inspected. All she wants him to do is walk through it and make sure no critters are setting up shop inside (at least that’s what the grounds keeper thinks is important). Simple. Mr. Jenkins will also have to clean up Alice’s dishes after lunch and dinner. Moreover, Mr. Jenkins will do all the dishes Sunday, plus the trash, and the linens. Just a few things. Josie doesn’t want to make it so hard on him he’ll feel taxed. She even wants him to forget. She has to test her spell of course. It’s a simple one that works on the notion of someone asking him a favor. If he agrees and doesn’t do it on time…
    “Just to show you how this’ll work,” she says, “let’s run a test.”
    “Test?”  
    He finishes his last bite. He leaves his nice-sized porcelain plate empty, except for a few crumbs coated in vegetable oil.  
    “I’m going to ask you to wash that dish after I leave, and you’re going to agree to it.”
    “Okay.”
    “But you’re not going to do it.”
    He grins. “Sure thing.”
    “Mr. Jenkins, will you please wash that dish when I leave?”
    “Yes, ma’am, I certainly will.”
    “Thank you.”
    Josie strolls out the doorless exit into a pantry that leads into the kitchen gardens.
    Mr. Jenkins remains where he is, as if this is all a big joke. She steps aside so that he can’t see her anymore. Shelves full of baked beans, canned vegetables, potatoes, etc., line the wall. She stands in the corner, waiting. It should only take a few seconds. She placed the potion in his eggs before he