The Past Rears Its Ugly Head

She came into my life at 10 years old, scared, lonely, dying for attention. She had lost her mother 12 months before to cancer. She had older siblings, who did not have the skill or where-with-all to take care of her. I babysat her a few times, her father was/is an alcoholic. They lived in a very small trailer on the rez and there were reports from the neighbors that she would go to their homes to get something to eat.
Her father asked me to care for her because he was going out of state to work, at first I refused, but she loved us right from the start and was my constant tail. I agreed, he gave me temporary custody of her. I enrolled her in school, which she hated. I think through her mother's illness she never really attended, her skills being low, reading was hard. She would do nothing for herself without a fight with me.
She was a junk food junkie, always only wanting to eat chips and drink pop. She had constant nightmares and even at 10 would not sleep by herself. I read somewhere that it was the caffeine that would give her nightmares, so when I put my foot down and said no pop, she was so angry. She never said a word about it, but you could see it in her face, she was angry!!
She often was angry and would pout if she felt she was slighted in any manner. She never cried except when I had to tell her that her maternal grandmother had passed away from a diabetic coma.
Skinny, unsure of herself, always needing my full attention. She had this thing for socks. They had to go to her knees and she constantly adjusted them, making sure they were straight. She could not stand it if they got stretched out. As I am remembering as a young child she never was really happy. I think she was glad to be with us, but I think she always felt as an outsider. My own youngest daughter was only 4 years older, but a young teenager, so there was a huge distance between those two.
My house was always full of other kids so there was never a quiet moment. I was busy teaching at a local school. I was single just trying to get by and raise my kids. My oldest, my son, was a handful always challenging authority, just starting experimenting with alcohol and drugs (which ends up plaguing his life). And for awhile this was how our life floated along.