The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFc6dHNEjd
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz0N4NpeCbQ
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.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXVWB5KuA1
“Will we?” Marquita asks.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnw3sK1HEcy
“We won’t be eating.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKMRl35pQJR
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8EGLfcbV9u
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6IO9F8Fti0
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.” 901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcI3ROw5klx
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgeFvb6ii7T
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57ZpQbLPU1
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL8qo3ii2bx
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPgf7tNWYoX
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRw1mfoTnMM
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZUA7P4DEKL
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.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRkPVJ7ElFz
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.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCuGnYoCeBr
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Nb0lDf1hZ
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxBqaFJoM2Z
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.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGAk2c7lcUK
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtizBjgtdxE
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36Xh1g6X5A
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.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6yT0ryL9R
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.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8WNOkM1SoU
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡerva34wQnl
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRxWemjX3Q
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMLskg8N4I2
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiyjs0dVusm
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzKgLlm5KGQ
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.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxevHmVqEWx
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.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaIAecLuKtN
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?901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThgzaG4pIU
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.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2Ls7GmrF4
“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.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJmw76CTBI
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. 901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR0AXNGt7Ls
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF4Q4ATDQB1
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwQk3s6QVZF
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFRyN770k8
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKk06Fv9Ome
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ29uusUtFOw
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVEUBldpIDH
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA57sAncbbx
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsiDeMx59Uz
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.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhMSOcNxriJ
“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”.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKczVzg1qjA
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJeSHbYRzq
“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.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1j301V4zHc
“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.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjSmMRy3KL
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9oGVXUHhaY
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1a0GtZEl9
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYMuwRQt8N
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.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBFX4SxItF
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.901Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRe3HWuu1wR
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
ns216.73.217.31da2
and then Add to home screen.