The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvkMLCk9jWq
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡni8h5iGK0j
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.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJxDHkBLKyJ
“Will we?” Marquita asks.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM1oac1D5yO
“We won’t be eating.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlZhgwp5eWI
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTMK01DrBh6
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9NwuqzuAwu
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.” 703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEYGQdsXVAD
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡySX49hPsPc
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp3zBpnFAJL
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoOCaILUpHo
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1zx6vMaUzt
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU8wOi4gFhW
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBUDZTCMOz
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.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxd103NLLfU
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.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXoUYfmDc8M
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7N7voHzN8
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWHAT9rNtMa
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.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvao4M0FTDD
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb3jND8p39a
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtl5ndNrxFs
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.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡinzTetJ1WM
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.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzQi9JW3Hge
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTPMg2wQCOm
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgjDQzQqwd0
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGrTYnKbM9L
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLxlJoyNfES
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNHr6gIniI
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.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOt0VJDBIGr
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.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1732AARO2q
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?703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKA0zKFeT9T
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.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxpGLGUYkkj
“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.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLVh0ndZtl
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. 703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA3u6OwLMNt
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtbjiGAJqUt
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3o0Z50VxE
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpA7fkLU7da
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ38b0h9EQrm
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8xOs1MSm8
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWa27LHnap1
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXqR3kaijpS
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCq2FKbMnst
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.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlxqFCfLqsl
“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”.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkkWWim39j
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlNRkQulyQZ
“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.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYSuO2yuII4
“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.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡchRNb3fqv3
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrPpYyF860z
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP1ljgUK80b
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHS0Z8eej0P
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.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jIS4QrRTP
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.703Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKZfeQAic3i
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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