The Juvie Three

Terence is waiting for DeAndre and his friends in the cold. He reflects that if Healy were around, he would have made sure they had warm coats for the winter. When the crew shows up, Terence tells them that he deserves a place in the gang after all he’s done. DeAndre leads Terence and the other boys to a nearby square across from the river with a playground and a fountain. The only person in the park is an old homeless woman, sleeping on a bench beside her shopping cart.

DeAndre tells Terence that his initiation into the group is to beat the woman up and toss her in the park fountain. At first, Terence thinks he’s joking, until DeAndre tells him to bring them the woman’s ring as proof. Terence insists that there’s no sense in hurting someone with no payoff. DeAndre tells him that they’ll be able to trust him more if they have something to blackmail him with.

Terence is beginning to panic. He thinks about how his experiences with an abusive father taught him that the way to survive was to surround himself with powerful friends: “When you’re down with the right people, you’ve got it all—respect, protection, money” (170).