Dear Justyce

Quan recalls his first time getting arrested. He is 13 years old, and it is an impulsive decision: Quan sees a pack of playing cards at a store and steals it. He is caught by the shop owner, and the police are called. Quan flashes back to the night his father was arrested, and “for the second time since pre-k” (81), Quan wets himself as he is getting arrested himself. While waiting for Mama to come bail him out, Quan reflects on the justice (or lack thereof) of the situation: He is a child, and it was only a $2.99 deck of cards. Quan sees another young man, Trey, being brought into the police station and recognizes him from his neighborhood.

In the present day, Quan writes to Justyce and tells him about his case management intern, Liberty Ayers. Liberty, a former gang member with a criminal record of her own, now works to help teenagers like Quan who get into legal trouble. Quan thinks about the people who came into his life who steered him down his path and mentions the first time he met Trey in the police station. Quan closes by admitting that he is warming up to Doc, even though talking to him forces him to think about things that make him uncomfortable.