I glance her over again and can’t see the connection. I imagined that girl would be skinny, malnourished, closed tight, jumpy, and obvious about her pain. Like most of the kids, my mom helped. This one is nothing like that. You have to look a hell of a lot deeper to see it. I only do because I’ve spent a lifetime around kids like her, helping my mom with her work.

The phone starts ringing, and my mom takes it from the wall, utters a hello to my aunt, then gestures two minutes to ...