The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqjiAproVvT
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbf2X6Ee89
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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGV7hxBilaz
“Will we?” Marquita asks.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8RFT9BEQ2i
“We won’t be eating.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoeOoz8s73D
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK60BRQphdS
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUMqO8Ndt4I
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.” 635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNcTIiZtHhd
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfC4bMGA3GR
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy2UGEBcYDd
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaon3QgLcWS
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhifIlA7VhR
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡypZPn2uCi4
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2OOBNBu9h
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoQKRJxtZJ5
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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJJBZpQ0Hb
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEZAUemcjVK
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKOpCsAREOM
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ItEwRdx5G
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZE2AP3ckQ
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkYh83WO7bg
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRNfRo6DeSy
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl1S8Vt6FX4
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkrg7vkmiC
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWP9xDcrIgI
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlU6RVjRPwL
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMG3dneSpzR
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ40b3NQJw5H
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDlMQj1jd6T
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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjL05PcjUu5
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?635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDTwhT9PalB
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUNx5s3kb1
“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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqk00UN8T2c
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. 635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ08Roc5gzPd
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9VFZqIj0Ba
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmSDgxuEJs
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYalcT0Znrc
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIrWE62uMOL
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlnkUteBYsO
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsz7jynybha
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjvUKRoa9N7
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa7f5GZ25hJ
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz0iVgz8iJm
“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”.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKOqxbzOZPi
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQXeVLbtdm
“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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEaNhP1HBZw
“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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡINaZUo2rJm
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8BFpl805rL
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd2ErWp4ty7
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVdrScyQ1KU
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUbE2YsN03l
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYgbYg6lWHk
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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