The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtaWwf0Gssq
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvj32STAPjO
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.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcP7u8N2J0R
“Will we?” Marquita asks.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡll8JCYWVdi
“We won’t be eating.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMZ0sgtaFO
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfCx9OSt98Z
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYkRL9YpNti
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.” 699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLih3ai1swf
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2aGFS8phoR
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbcjMmm1zF
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjw8eumZR0p
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡibeqBvABjm
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7bTJgUgVFt
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK5CncID6Bp
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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRMVNDu6u2J
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.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgfUny6VAUU
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3gaSnFu6WU
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVhXp83GFAt
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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWLg90R6Z7N
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡptRmjrLvbB
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgghQbZKYOq
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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBB4w7lMxqg
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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZTwHSX3kT
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBz61Nn2yU
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqUWJ9zzPWm
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdj2AWbPGNF
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIr3ggVxbu8
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzCL2bOHbk4
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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvRHelAmVN
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.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6hkN8ZaOBN
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?699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEn5vtTF9aD
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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5EFZcjTBe
“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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR4Y4ifGCwX
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. 699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ799GKRNVf0
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0kVlkeZT37
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtElMWWCMrp
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbTFrd2L7X9
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf2GY7nx2Vv
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpkZRUmOc3L
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyM43WnYQkM
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYofPhTbNqj
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZQBkPKs3j
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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1kLQuf6Ewe
“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”.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshCw8afXYa
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAmitCDCUdG
“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.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrEfOetfKyE
“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.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbYrhw3mYDK
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdOUiaEIIxX
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUe60olhe9l
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtEHpNRBjm2
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.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqBRPzro1wP
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSP4Mu1wrR
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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