The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3fGDvhGYVo
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbWLhGBSvw9
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.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTetAWTiYnE
“Will we?” Marquita asks.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7jcgo6BNj
“We won’t be eating.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLgnGKzqAFU
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5UQ337WbRq
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL9iLWSTBMg
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.” 462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ71uja50JNp
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl3yk540Bt9
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVl3vdlFtlN
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2s81aISso
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCSEVNrZxP9
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ35dIsheSQn
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgvMO60e2T
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyEmfsOmZSz
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.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmxb3sanOyA
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLc3ywXdAD
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQoQJwWSqVj
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTOsO7gfDCq
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZeq5bxji8o
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzHJrP7H1f
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiMJS2R3g45
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTNasUvbIy7
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7jvoZ5iLRV
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlZIvZAEhUY
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiQ8CUBcDbV
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwuEFWay91t
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQUJKOWjmPw
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6ZNWtZ8m2
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.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbjw6DrfGf
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?462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS6I9gkr0Bg
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07SDLB9Fdl
“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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE4ObuTRmxm
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. 462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66UUBt6r6r
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaURs0CsqJv
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwDLCH2IS6
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYmZYr0FN0W
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKOsU3BnK8
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqQ7hf0ebQ
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfgBPhSyF3i
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrhEa6GnTLH
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWl37qUwuBb
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhBsJZZvZdR
“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”.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ1bugMQXiL
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9r5eu7Snr0
“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.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUIzkSOdB0l
“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.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX3AxBcN0sN
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHIqG2VMzVi
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGbJZ4sxaIS
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUIZjweliO3
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFIT9llFIXy
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2w38x71VxL
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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