The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgJuO9qYhI5
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlGUC1auam3
The two women watch the others stand and stretch as they gather their purses and wallets before disembarking. As the others near the front Mechteld says, “Everyone will get off to have lunch.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Lfut8AQgS
“Will we?” Marquita asks.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwOWnpkEZqV
“We won’t be eating.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl9PmEDeymT
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ457QsHWNSm
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4FW7BMPJEP
Marquita’s legs shake as she stands. The hours of sitting made her already weak legs stiffer. She wavers as she walks down the narrow aisle. When she gets to the top of the steps she firmly grips the rail as she feels Mechteld bracing her small frame by the shoulders. Together the carefully walk down the stairs. The driver waits for them at the bottom. Marquita locks eyes with him as he says, “Feeling better I see.” 661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYLK4F4VhQf
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKPotIRgme
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIJMUgwo51c
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpr6ccuqNw7
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaVklSIFPwc
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1QWegu0YEl
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXLr5Aejc1
Together they sit on a curb, their legs stretched out over hot asphalt. From under her baseball cap, a bead of sweat runs down Mechteld’s forehead before becoming lost in the scars crisscrossing her face. Marquita scratches her head as the stiches start to burn as the sweat collects under the hijab.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWSCow2uCYv
Mechteld pulls out her pack of cigarettes and quickly lights up as Marquita desperately fans air under her skirt. She looks at Mechteld’s long sleeves and says, “We stand out with all these clothes on.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD0l4RWagDP
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJzAqU2IuPb
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQstY4w6XKK
Marquita looks across the street to the convenience store where the other passengers were buying their lunches. It feels odd to Marquita that she isn’t hungry. She knows she hasn’t eaten in days, yet the absence of hunger pangs is discomforting.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7cdfZPMQQA
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNXeOJBN0C
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWh5hktzPOH
Marquita thinks about an existence without food. For her, it seems to alien and unnatural to live without it. In Corona, life revolved around faith, family and food. She suspects she won’t have any of those things while with Mechteld.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvxA9nPWwLn
Marquita thoughts go to the last dinner she had with her parents. After their prayers, their meal suffered from several strained silences. It was the first dinner they had together in months, but despite his chronic absences, her father had made an attempt to be there and make her happy by making her favorite food. The memory stings Marquita’s consciousness as she thinks about it. Even with the silence and confusing feelings, the memory is precious to her.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTUEZx3z6f5
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7BXxlocBV
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXYUZ5Qd5Hh
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw4bD722s3Y
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy8ZK45uPbJ
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNFfPMRusVG
Mechteld rubs the butt of her now spent cigarette on the ground before taking another from the pack. Quickly she lights it and sets her pack and lighter back down.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡngwVS0KG4W
Marquita asks, “Did you read from my mind that I loved tostones?“
Mechteld shakes her head as she breathes deep before letting out a cloud of smoke, “No, I learned that from your father.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWRtTQ9YSKn
Marquita again wonders about her parents. Had her father gone back to work after only a few days of losing his daughter? Did they tell their family in the DR what happened? Had they planned a funeral? Or were they looking for her?661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡydTvWDvc5E
Marquita thinks back to the picture of her father in the paper. She knows he was hurting. His tired eyes etched in the newsprint showed a level of emotion she hasn’t seen in years. It was a reminder that despite everything, she meant something to him.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxxfTEqCw0
“He always made tostones when he came back from a long trip. He would pretend he was making them for himself, but he’d always make me the most.” She says out loud.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaoQWPPm3S6
She thinks again to the awkward silences at dinner and at the hospital and about his casual wave as he walked away from her hospital room. 661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFINohvw2z6
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNCIYP1grTb
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhquWEG2K7I
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdroMb9K6t0
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGSQ7FaTXX9
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIDnqDIodR
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0c5CBjcOFa
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9c9DsDv6Ld
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwc0UEP5nGc
The thought enters Marquita’s mind, “Why wait and follow her rules? I can end this now.” But it’s quickly extinguished with memories of heads scars, fire, and her father’s unconcerned wave.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWH3wMy3OSH
“Before he became scared of me he wasn’t afraid to hold my hand. Whenever we’d walk around our neighborhood he’d hold my hand and say, “Stay close, New York is the most dangerous place in the world”, but when we would visit Santo Domingo he’d hold my hand tighter and tell me, “Stay close, Santo Domingo is the most dangerous place in the world”.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq0y4YoRdxB
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ986317smJE
“I used love Sundays because my dad didn’t work. After church, just the two of us would walk to the bodega hand in hand and he’d buy two chocolate milks: one for me, one for him.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4ZagGW1t9
“When I started to know things I shouldn’t, he treated me different. His grip on my hand became looser until one day he let go. After that he started to push me away and eventually he got his job so he could run away from me.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtR7IeA53Im
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsWZlGPxKKv
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcEMgl3gL0N
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOVfe0F9X2H
Marquita looks down at the small pile of cigarettes next to Mechteld. She realizes she has been unaware of how long she has been talking. For her, she finally had a chance to tell someone the feelings she kept to herself and despite the circumstances she feels there is so much more she wants to say.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQoIVtR0v6N
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.661Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQzPAcIifu
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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