Letitia Stein, Times staff writer
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
TAMPA — A little girl of almost 3 races to answer a knock at the apartment door. Her head, spiky with tiny plaits and rainbow barrettes, attaches to the first leg it finds. Fritzcar Pierre will not let you pass without a hug.
The Haitian girl shows off her toys, peering through a blue balloon with a brown eye that not long ago was an inflamed red ball. With her left hand, she steers her beloved pink and purple princess tricycle.
Fritzcar can carry a black comb in the nub that remains of her right arm. She doesn't sit still long enough for you to examine the fist-sized circle on the back of her head where hair still does not grow, or the swirl of scars along her forehead and cheek.
One year after a two-story house in Port-au-Prince collapsed on ...