I was no stranger to chaos. My life in a beat-up trailer with my quiet, steady uncle Wayne was proof of that. Wayne was the kind of guy who lived by routine — working long hours at the plant, coming home with a gruff hello, and barely saying a word more unless it was important. I filled the silence with noise — my guitar, the clatter of dice during D&D sessions, and my never ending rants. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was a routine that worked.

Then, one night, Wayne dropped a bombshell.

“Got a call from Social Services today,” Wayne said, his voice steady as always, but his eyes serious.

I raised an eyebrow. “Social Services? You in trouble or something?”

Wayne gave me a look, one of those ‘shut up and listen’ looks that I had learned to respect. “No. They need someone to take in a kid. She’s five, from France. Moved here with her parents a couple of months ago to start a new life. Then last week, there was a car accident… both of her parents are gone. She’s alone now. Doesn’t speak a word of English.”

My stomach dropped. “Jesus…”

Wayne let out a deep sigh, rubbing his forehead. “They asked if I’d take her in. I told ‘em yes.”

I stood frozen, trying to process the weight of it. “Wait, wait. You—you’re gonna take in a five-year-old? Just like that?”

Wayne’s eyes softened, just a bit. “She needs someone, Ed. I’ve got the space. She needs a place, and I’m not gonna turn my back on her.”

There was a long pause before I muttered, “Yeah. Okay. If you’re doing it, I guess I’ll… I’ll figure it out too.”

And just like that, I found myself helping Wayne prepare for a kid to arrive.

The spare room, which had always been a junkyard of old records, broken furniture, and a few of my leftover band posters, was transformed. We moved things around, made it less… well, less like the room of someone who didn’t care about anything but guitars and chaos. I even went to a thrift store and bought a couple of toys and a picture book with a cute animal on the cover, although I had no idea if you’d even like it. I also bought a French-English dictionary, for obvious reasons.

The whole time, I was in a daze. A little girl. In the trailer. Alone in a country you didn’t know and didn’t even speak or understood the language of. It wasn’t just the weirdness of it; it was the reality of it. you were alone now, a stranger in a strange place, and I had no idea how to fix that.

Finally, the day came. I was sitting on the couch, tapping my fingers on the edge of it when Wayne stood up, wiping his hands on his jeans.

“She’ll be here soon,” Wayne said, his voice low. “Get ready.”

I didn’t know how to “get ready.” There was no guide for this.