The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0vR1yzvaqY
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG43QKT1AYa
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.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeo5Hbl1RLl
“Will we?” Marquita asks.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jOSH66Epe
“We won’t be eating.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpFOa4za5dK
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFrJHnXkN3x
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyv9dpudQRN
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.” 704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW4W1q5otpc
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAOdh10VTbJ
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2p7fe4a0P0
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt0p55520dC
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPoNnC5v6jG
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVLhF8ck4g
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1b9ZQvQYVx
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.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgXSZtLPHc3
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.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3k2jLzF2XS
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjTTGFjtUmI
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7WF780U3p
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.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRsBOrYFFsg
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhaCPNhsbCI
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7N74bmH5Xu
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.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOhgBAoCfR3
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.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEahoaDSzNH
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOY5zt3tVeO
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuO2AWDYcz5
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ32ZSFDMV2M
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV17qqtPBhQ
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKRYBjBrcn
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.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLabhsefV9q
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.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEsvCdqVcNV
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?704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgGwv0VwPqE
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.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYVKI5q0cD
“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.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCbJbdYDdEc
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. 704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOSlTLZ7rTv
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIuJK64Tu4E
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3OxZPI8buw
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9L62Ao8MM
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJyq6c2Y47h
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvbv2Cr8gtu
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9UAUd4hxll
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ03wEusaFSd
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnU7ux5plm1
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.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7rDpK5L3te
“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”.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNm3N5efKzK
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJpCIOfdwH4
“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.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmPI0oB4ZzW
“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.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiX5V4SxuHh
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpcgVhSP8Yn
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0iR5Hq0xd
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaXVfOF4G0L
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.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbjKSMSWHvw
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoPnZsFd4p7
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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