The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEd4vtCodod
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSJimCxP0Oc
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.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡszv3N2Zxgj
“Will we?” Marquita asks.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzLxesc5oPH
“We won’t be eating.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUsYS9QnqPg
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJOiGPPPRoR
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JFCq2dqhw
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.” 733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4nvOcfQSr8
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh82ug8apP6
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4fULEbMCEw
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK2G9dgiU1s
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFBDmUv1QMd
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmooKwm9cqi
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJkGsNj9nyI
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.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0bmiTot1QO
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.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJkLRitNxJp
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZiHXVTLPNE
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoU9WWNZ5hi
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.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkD3zDqrcJa
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZ0rUyJ8U0
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFcuhL9uYl5
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.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡijJL01KLZS
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.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡti3WT3vzpk
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOpV9pJuC3O
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFFyxByKXmR
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavNEtyFpsb
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2KMiD4Nqdu
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwfDIHwy98p
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.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXf2pkv2If
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.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT84N74IDLN
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?733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh8QWeGj6bn
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.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4rbI8EXGY
“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.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLFZ5kqElQ8
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. 733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbUzzTiwe3s
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMaVZ8Bx0Lz
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa8acRVqdfb
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlWEPOxM9Dm
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNEzoZEd5Ze
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcIQOm1aWA
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpDv4LjD3oI
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo5J9r8C8nJ
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaZFLwhdEeF
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.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15HlTw26yG
“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”.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0yYWB9lbGn
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfml7g7aNj0
“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.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4Y1BO20Nd
“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.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGKw6q3Ock
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡintwluc8aC
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡryCf64BMqe
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxf4SlrCrzA
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.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtzotvyONLG
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.733Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOacUHmQCwr
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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