The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh2lQhYJyYM
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDOZJxvrT1h
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.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSiYxSDIYL
“Will we?” Marquita asks.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJRD1zJCdw
“We won’t be eating.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGNfWfkACy
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqslnuHiMt6
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6aZmKVBqYL
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.” 772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfMOUWY43Wl
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAUM28IwVL9
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCXJhY9Iov
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlzXiJidagQ
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡulUwl3Sp0B
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3zTXmZJ9ez
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwD1vX3Q2LC
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.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlfP3WPVmrq
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.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjs632lqRn
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoiFUM4OEyr
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmdCQ5Qk1Vh
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.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpocepQ9xQF
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp4Od7e7Oli
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkY3vcLxWvJ
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.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaTYqehvTSe
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.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXeAyEtg0Cu
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdFaWro6yv
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB5MQawgG9R
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVrZM4OJrRi
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡncLHjubgWQ
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmL45iknqm1
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.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjtBRoP8wXD
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.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq4FaKfj0vA
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?772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe16hiwHONO
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.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkn2QLnrXI
“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.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ05z5maMAdS
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. 772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP5wh15hZRn
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuXD1x42wwD
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1u2FcrarB
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwewe6iZ5iQ
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYu6HjiDNaZ
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ74bYIvkXhh
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0gcOkNlE6a
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIMNqrg8ahv
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2A4bFrkJcE
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.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHXUzGxWd6
“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”.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjACa6wqnJJ
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQgoBt7c71h
“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.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8aJK8qIN1n
“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.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEqpR2naDcC
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxooTQ5Adfw
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7NNsBJHDuI
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPcG3Muugiq
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.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3TqQJKnlT
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.772Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwl9pv9hbf
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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