From a very early age Justine Avery was taught to manipulate people. It was her dear mother who stood responsible for the imparting of this powerful knowledge, and she did so quite effectively and efficiently, lecturing to her daughter of a person's motives and desires and tender and blind-spots in terms of "strings" to be pulled or plucked and "buttons" to be pushed. It was a very practical system Janet Avery had worked out, or perhaps her mother had taught it to her. I'm still not sure whether she really believed in it herself or not. It doesn't really matter. The heart of the matter was that she possessed an inborn ability to manipulate and control the people around her which she wished for her beloved daughter to also possess (Mrs. Avery did not realize until a very old age the wickedness of her actions), and if phrasing it in terms of pushing buttons and pulling puppet strings could somehow spark the corresponding power to life in her offspring, then pull strings and push buttons she would. But call it what you will, her art was coaxing people, directly and indirectly, through honor and through deceit, to do her will. And they always did. Sometimes they didn't know they were being manipulated, and sometimes they did know, but still did it anyway. Most often they would deny the knowledge so that they wouldn't have to admit to themselves that they were being played like fiddles. By the time young Justene was three, it was quite apparent to everyone that her aptitude for manipulating those around her greatly surpassed even that of her notorious mother. Of course no one ever discussed such matters; in fact, the very thought itself barely grazed the surface of their conscious minds.
"Get 'em while you're cute!" Janet used to tell Justene even when she was just a baby. "Someday you'll grow up and get old, and one day you'll look in the mirror and realize you're not cute anymore. Being cute is a powerful tool. Be careful or one day you'll catch yourself looking back and wishing you had used your cuteness to make certain provisions for yourself while you still had the chance."
As for Mr. Avery, he was a gentle and upright man. He was also the guinea pig
for many of his wife's "lessons". He accepted the role for what it
was worth, knowing fully the whole time he was being used and abused to no end
first by his wife, and then by his daughter. He quietly accepted this way of
life as his fate. The Lord was testing him through the vow he had taken to love
and cherish his wife, come what may. And love her he did. And as much as he
loved his wife, he loved his beautiful daughter all the more. And through his
love (or perhaps in spite of it) he was able to overlook any faults either of
them may have possessed, even to the point where his wife became, in his eyes,
perfect, and his daughter nothing short of divine.
© 1995 Randy Bone