Kat
Kind words do not cost much
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2008
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Thanks debs for your insights. I couldn't bring myself to snip a single word, and was gonna bold the whole dismal thing and say "Agree w bolded," but after only now considering things from quite this angle, there were one (or two) points where you had my neck hairs standing on end which need to be set apart. I have no real expertise in the areas of sexual abuse or incest but I do think it's possible someone w Misty's history could perceive any other object of her man's affections as a threat. I do believe she would feel intensely competitive and that as a child herself w such damaged self-worth and self-esteem she would have had problems sharing dad's attentions. And the part about Misty's need to introduce or indoctrinate her young protege, her little lookalike, into other possible behaviors was where the hairs stood on end...
I do believe for those reasons she may have resented Haleigh or could have wished to eliminate her as a competitor but I also think there is more than one way to achieve that goal, which wouldn't necessarily require deliberately handing off Haleigh. Having dejavu here but once again I'm reminded how people, and especially deeply troubled or disturbed people, are complex and operate on more than one level. She may well have resented Haleigh on a number of counts. For the full-time caretaking responsibility at such a young age herself. For interfering w her freedom and former lifestyle, when her peers and crowd she'd hung out w were still drinking and drugging. And while Junior may not have remembered living w Mom and could so easily have accepted her as his new surrogate mother, perhaps Haleigh was not as quick to call her "Mommy." And for the longtime bond Haleigh shared w, and the hold she had over, daddy, and the obstacle she may have quickly come to represent to their otherwise idealized "perfect future together."
As we've learned tho in so many cases involving children under a certain age, inadequate supervision and poor priorities alone can have tragic, even deadly consequences. And as we have seen illustrated over and over in so many examples her ends also could have been easily accomplished on another, less conscious, more passive level had she simply failed to consider her wellbeing or to adequately supervise or had she recklessly endangered the child in her care. Propping the childen in front of the tv w a couple videos early that eve (figuring "they'll be asleep soon") so she could get on w her night; inviting the wrong people over to the home at some point, or giving away too much; becoming too high, intoxicated or careless to notice who was noticing Haleigh, and which door was locked, and what the risk factors were to Haleigh or her brother, I tell you my head is reeling w the invitations to disaster. At those ages, all we need do is not care enough.
I posted a while back that dad was basically faced w two choices in this case. He could either go to the wall w his underage gf and her version of events; or he could admit that by entrusting his children to this girl he had made a terrible, possibly fatal error in judgment. But he'd gotten himself between a rock and a hard spot and who knows what other leverage his underage gf may have held over dad by then. No wonder he didn't seem all that thrilled about marrying her, it gives a whole new meaning to "shotgun wedding." If that's the case it's still hard to imagine dad could just swallow hard, suck it up and get "over it" to that extent. JMO
arrot:
I bolded the statements that you made that really make a lot of sense if we are going to look at MC's psychology.
Amen parrot.
