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number of homicides in Philadelphia kept rising at a rapid rate, and the police were itching for someone to blame.
    Troy’s face splashed across the TV screen. His smile tore at Janae. He had doe eyes and a dimpled left cheek. Troy had a great smile and was always laughing at something Malik had said.
    One time, Troy walked into the apartment wearing a bright-red leather jacket similar to the iconic one Michael Jackson had worn. Malik looked at Troy, and then his eyes darted devilishly to Janae. All at once, Malik grabbed his own crotch, twisted his bended leg in midair, and sang, “ Heee, heee. ” The three of them laughed for a good ten minutes straight.
    According to the news, the cops were teaming up with church and community leaders, who were calling for a Take Back Our Streets rally. They already had blood-red T-shirts with the names of all twenty-nine victims and Who’s Next? plastered across the front. The walk would include some of the hardest-hit communities in Philly, and everyone, all ten thousand of the estimated crowd, would converge on City Hall and demand that something be done.
    The local news anchor shifted her angle and stared into a different camera—right into Janae’s eyes, it seemed.
    â€œThe question is, should the fifteen-year-old murder suspect Malik Williams be tried as an adult for the murder of Troy Barnes?”
    Janae jumped out of her seat, her eyes fixed on the TV screen. “He’s only fifteen!” she yelled. “How can they do this? Oh my God, Malik.”
    The phone rang. She turned her head toward it but let it go to voice mail.
    The news anchor continued:
    â€œAccording to the arresting officer, Peter Rhinehold, there was no doubt that the intent was to snuff out a life. The murder was performed execution style—one bullet to the back of the head and another in the lower back. Visibly frustrated, the officer pointed out that in Pennsylvania murder is an adult crime. He said all teenage murder suspects are to be automatically transferred to adult court. But that’s not what happened in the Troy Barnes murder. Due to a processing mix-up during a bomb scare just this week at the Criminal Justice Center, suspect Malik Williams is currently in juvenile detention. The nation has its eye on this case because it brings to light how a major American city is being marred by violence. Something has gone wrong in the City of Brotherly Love. We have with us renowned child psychologist and college professor Maury Phelps to give his take on exactly what is going on.”
    Malik was just the opposite of the way the news described him. He was kind, maybe even too kind, and that worried Janae, because the boys in their neighborhood were tough. Malik was soft.
    A few weeks ago, he didn’t receive the only birthday card that mattered to him, the one from his father. Every year for fourteen years it came, and it always had crisp one-dollar bills in it, equal to his age. Janae thought she had seen a tear in his eye when he asked if this was all the mail? He turned his head so quickly she wasn’t sure.
    None of the cards had really come from his father, David. All fourteen of them were from David’s mother—Malik’s grandmother. She never called, never came to see him. To her, Janae was the slut who made her a grandmother at thirty-five years of age. She said she would love her grandson anyway. The card and money were her love.
    It had always been just Janae and Malik. Janae’s mother helped when she could, but she had five other kids to provide for and raise. At fifteen, Janae was on her own and pregnant.
    The local female anchor continued to deliver the story, giving the child psychologist an opportunity to explain his theory:
    â€œIf you take a look at all the defendants and their victims from January one to now, really what’s happening has been going on for years. There’s just been an uptick in the number of murders, but