“Good,” Aria said, not wanting to fully engage in conversation until there was no one in between them. “How are you?” Aria asked her once the men had dispersed to their sitting place on the lawn.

“I’m OK, I’m OK, just doin’ ya know,” she replied.

“You doin’ somethin’ special today?” Imani asked her, expecting that her answer would be no.

“I don’t know,” Aria responded. “Actually, it’s my birthday today so I don’t know yet.”

She didn’t know exactly why she decided to tell Imani and no one else. Probably it was because there was no risk of her trying to do anything about it.

“How old you be?” Imani asked, her long and freshly manicured acrylic nails pressing divots into the plastic wrap around the sandwich that she handed to Aria. Though they were painted bright purple, they reminded Aria more of claws than of nails.

“Eighteen,” Aria replied. Imani’s suspicions that Aria had been underage were confirmed but she made no obvious reaction.

Imani did not share Aria’s relief about the fact that she had reached adulthood. For Aria, it meant that she could get a job and she would no longer be a target for the cops. Imani couldn’t be sure whether Aria was part of the system, but she knew all too well that once kids turned 18, they aged out of the system. Aging out of the system was a nightmare in and of itself. Without a family and without any of the skills to make it on their own, the chances these older kids would graduate from school, much less college, were slim. The chances of them finding good employment were just as slim. It was like kicking a bird out of the nest when it didn’t know how to fly. So many of the kids who aged out of the system just ended up right back where they started … back in the clutches of substance abuse, back in trouble with law enforcement, back in poverty, out on the streets and with no social support. It was a vicious cycle that no one seemed to be able to stop.

“Well, happy birthday, girl,” Imani said. “I swear on my mamma you don’t look a day over fifteen.” Aria smiled. “Let me tell you what you’re not gonna do. What you’re not gonna do is do nothin’ … Lemme see what I got here.”