The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoms7JrNPgl
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPopwo9xAVq
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.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvx9AxTpzFP
“Will we?” Marquita asks.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdNi1G8fNEp
“We won’t be eating.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKSLwN4hdN
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6AI2UQDEdD
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡktdxT6FDcD
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.” 706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdW0pL5Y9Bn
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYqoYfkOlzc
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYVgeh1wbnE
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe29SVmQcX2
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtFqYyYB9ir
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡldqKVs0AIO
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYHp3OcqvK
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.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU1WTmjtyJj
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.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDfLGMNkcfo
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3KBfzusMVD
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTwWDwhh7i1
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.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMGGXn2D1Bt
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc7YZcXaPe0
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7LZIHzdrPp
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.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlTDBKemQHz
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.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp2OZcIC3Xs
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGTW8vwT9PO
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV2iFjpWN2m
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJkv18GQOPp
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhXGIJTK0uv
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ51zywcHCtO
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.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJnXa9CIlHA
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.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbYZYn2iwgt
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?706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrLBfjkGhN1
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.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcHdfh3nxdP
“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.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJSIDF4RC10
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. 706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRREe47WXd
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdsrzYlxzzD
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZDjnEtBMlb
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXHvMCYetR9
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMBAeil4hpS
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTASjAX01sh
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevQv4LPKOK
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ4lXsjxQu4
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9pWxvk5gVm
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.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Bv9VIwDqL
“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”.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDKWWFAvTRF
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv06tnb1CNY
“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.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsnYI70FDqU
“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.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYbinXgKxKt
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1XcHbhfrT
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡksNnOJFGBj
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5xENP2haPs
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.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiHYQsrl5WJ
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.706Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRnOHqu146F
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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