A Troubled Boy

His cousin Chaim lives with Xan and his family because her own mother had done so many drugs and barely took care of her. Chaim literally had to scavenge for food; her mother did not see to it that she went to school for over a year, she slept around with different men and left the kids alone for days on end to the point that she lost custody of them and Alex offered to take her in. Xan's mother had her own set of problems - she was not as dysfunctional as Chaim's mother but was also sort of trashy and did not know how to properly raise or discipline the children. Over time Xan's mother digressed; the children did not spend the majority of their time with her, thank God, they essentially lived with their grandmother, with whom my mother is a friend. The grandmother is wealthy and afforded the children many social opportunities and extra-curricular activities, but did not have the time or patience required to take care of Xan because of the special attention he needed because of his "temper problem.".
             Xan loved to be with me, he never wanted to leave. When he left to go home, that is when you would start to see his "temper problem" show. He would yell, throw or hit things, stomp his feet and cry. While he was with me he never had any of the verbal outbursts that were so common when he was with his mother or grandmother; they were amazed at how calm and respectful he was when I was around him. As summer drew near, my "occasional" baby-sitting job became virtually full-time. I was earning quite a bit of money and having fun doing it . my whole goal, right? .
             Xan's birthday was in June and I had purchased him a skateboard; I think that was the greatest gift he had ever received. Every time he came over, he would bring his skateboard and I would patiently teach him how to skateboard. He never gave up. He said to me, "One day I will be as good as you, Frankie" and put his heart into it.