The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEmjb6cQfho
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyspm1e0Z2s
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.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYmsUuM4IKB
“Will we?” Marquita asks.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ44S28P7vST
“We won’t be eating.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuEBSDg02HV
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEER13mviz0
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlufDDyqFSP
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.” 667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWZb3egrIRx
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0m3JReGcy8
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM4HKoRU9mv
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegtfTcBxgs
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUnUqjgjdAV
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC334ty09z2
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoByGCEtgF2
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.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhwIOpUQwgB
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.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQWbzBblj0
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMYb4AEWStm
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvVQysvsxE
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.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzAM2LyHuG5
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn6mVhidNwl
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqs9Eu7YfJW
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.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ12RLcXXCqj
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.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdBpOAkzyw7
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4G3IPt8Et
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡACHVPVokgU
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr5zsRHeqls
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuKw94GNA77
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGn9227Xuee
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.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeSMYdsavOo
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.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡObUYgyru8j
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?667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyMG220AUS2
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.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9TnjlYWHx9
“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.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQjImjcbdv
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. 667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Aent34xWy
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8h91jLP3sm
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjC8AV8zlMu
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1h8uv3Zv0W
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSiG8dxmBs
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL4vSjPi7Q9
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNxawOw0nlQ
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeknsSLF4cj
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ11C1LLkPgg
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.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPTY5gooW6
“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”.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs383lSYFDc
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6oT4hKz9Cr
“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.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQUuxkcZlS
“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.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKVIwonz8LZ
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFsupRupe5G
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqEkoas4lon
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj4K5tiXYSB
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.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66DTSMoCz6
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.667Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYNIuJlpTQj
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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