He had been hanging out with the doctor for a long time, and tried to set him up with his mom. Had the doctor gone for his mom, or at least not started to avoid Martin, would he have put the “hex” or whatever it was on his family?
shareThat part confuses me, and yet it was a big part of the first half of the story. Both Martin and his mother really want his mother to hook up with Stephen, apparently very badly. But there was never an indication that the deal would be affected had Stephen hooked up with Martin's mother.
It was never explained why Martin and his mother wanted her to hook up with Stephen, either. But I think maybe it would symbolize the death of Stephen/replacement of Martin's dead father, had he chose to be with Martin's mother. But again, that was never implied so I don't know if that was the case. But it's the only thing I can think of.