The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHtV4yZStMJ
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlj843i5KjZ
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.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5TCMd3TTf
“Will we?” Marquita asks.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAgBERtXT16
“We won’t be eating.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEfKIID5HKN
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqUQJRqoLW
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoQmp7RUcmE
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.” 709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvBnNhVYChi
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡINKfUFv2R1
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUap834BBPm
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5xnA3LcSIb
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXc7hUy78hM
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoRpXrGj1Ww
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9J7bWwIFmb
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.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmkAqs6h64R
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.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3FMrLavHST
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzOz72XkLp
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8gqmqB4BZI
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.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT3KmYWlvVk
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCrTvgBTNci
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXRAvODViZV
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.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqxs8Nl0p0Q
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.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzk2SlHZ1qg
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrCUv1wcZ13
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaNuM7yG9aP
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Gfn6qvYOv
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2YyKxiiKB
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX0bU40a56W
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.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnwo7yO9Kex
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.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSfy6yTEP1S
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?709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxmIcqK6dw
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.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTXfsvtaq3
“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.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ91jE31dy34
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. 709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡURfwTOCV6s
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY137CFsE24
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAsLcQDgLbg
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkW1GyzwwX
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTYRvpuKjMw
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm2FVPaZFIT
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjK8RMSSZMP
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ53BIwtNIRC
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIIKoOM9sTp
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.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2ub9CBpjE
“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”.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhMaxI362pj
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOhoYpVMqyu
“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.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBKuCK6Og0n
“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.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmfPnULlupy
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ6Wi7sgjEk
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0yVPFaexkc
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzpHUi94kFb
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.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡki8pTdFOMI
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.709Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUvQ3Prz17V
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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