The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn1kSiQjemc
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8zyZegdFs5
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.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwU0EZtB8b0
“Will we?” Marquita asks.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM5csoRvNmK
“We won’t be eating.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm3CdFJwM5S
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcfpwjZXGyd
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu3VPMWMtWt
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.” 974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx9GDW8hq8B
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDLXweZrXmD
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡclBTRLYXeH
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZWNFb2D9u
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2fbohHoc6
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMk3WwOSDb
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJfrOXhYfbU
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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCyorT6Jh4Y
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.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSz1UjK1x2O
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgoPlwGhKur
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIX7LQddpIv
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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtn8kn5Up3h
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG4BePGOtcx
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG4bRIDC5S5
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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYBgnqFRqeu
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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMH4gUTRRNT
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvH5VkRa2Yj
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5OAoozc6zY
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIiVu8uAz0c
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3RXN3wL6oI
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt6cyYVPfvV
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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡugF9OLl5Dq
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.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDAq8Jsoez
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?974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgFsQ0rLo92
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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡguXxTBmqod
“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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIM5FOC1C33
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. 974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3CBN3fjwT
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwP1nr41URf
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8h5n9h6I7J
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6D8ZPO1Jg
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdSZyO88ok3
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9R3oZ3Yfs5
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEaMnH0Y1qH
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLW4TtFDsYH
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaPfEWjGDlC
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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVMaPGuENk8
“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”.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUBJu2UGaQ
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpUFL9uCAsb
“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.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIBdrZZc0Yd
“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.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmSaQ7c4qJC
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKsPPgeUX85
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsDXRILeSED
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkrZcJz81N
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.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtfefhvrA25
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.974Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnaLpfV2wB
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
ns216.73.216.95da2
and then Add to home screen.