mary beth considered the matter for a long time , and then explained in her simple straightforward manner that the future was n't predetermined , it was merely predictable and her prediction was that this boy would die if he went to africa but if he stayed here worse things might happen maitland junior changed his own mind about the expedition , stayed home , and was killed in a fire six months later ( the young man was drunk and was smoking in bed ) at the funeral therese accosted mary beth and demanded to know why she did n't prevent such horrors mary beth said almost casually that she foresaw the whole thing , yes , but there was n't much she could do to change it to change it , she would have had to change maitland junior and that was not her job in life , and besides , she 'd tried , to no avail , to talk to maitland countless times , but she certainly felt dreadful about it , and she wished the cousins would stop asking her to look into the future 'when i look into the future , ' she reportedly said , 'all i see is how weak most people are , and how little they do to fight fate or fortune you can fight , you know you really can but maitland was n't going to change anything ' then she shrugged , or so the story goes , and walked with her characteristic big steps out of the lafayette cemetery therese was horrified by these statements she never forgave mary beth for her 'involvement ' ( 7 ) in the death of her husband or her son and to her dying day , she maintained that an aura of evil surrounded the first street house , and that whatever power the mayfairs possessed worked only for the chosen ones .