The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYcRCNHUlU
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9lYtv8yiSc
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.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGsl4AC3Rr
“Will we?” Marquita asks.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPL53wnmpaG
“We won’t be eating.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9kxF2nhkOX
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwmsHIhZHRd
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡie8Gi17jmM
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.” 652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfJoJQwm1ff
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDKgSWan4HU
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoy3r7LOlH7
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLqeH4EMk2r
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVrPrCr9DZn
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfbIQsei5T1
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkZlJHNa88A
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.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvKnla9THHp
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.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡClD9rLk2av
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTwasSK0Dh
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLXYJHCacUH
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.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS8py98p06c
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbvJCtNOyEl
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwczRu1obZR
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.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPFALSKxCG6
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.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5dMSdSgeoX
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡboW9kjxGyH
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpEQ3XQ1GTD
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAspWYPRD90
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjP8FWLi4tE
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8450JYPRty
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.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHmBkoN1uib
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.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaVEnnXC4jA
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?652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVEGmOQD9of
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.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtiifAmvimN
“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.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5n2kX3K1MU
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. 652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7rZOVFsRwg
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVmbplBkSCc
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiIE8TYNqoj
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWgHtLkIMeL
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjwM0KelBr5
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzWr88DrMPa
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ92U74dEv7K
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjglVilp8Z
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEg8HTlrll
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.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiN9PRxTdUl
“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”.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1S4Um9lPXe
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLEZE2BPSE1
“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.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrHIIymkkWY
“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.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTCZWY5FJid
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjcI0zVbWC
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUaIYXGVipy
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtylrm1KJL6
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.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVHkJcDB8kH
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡleUtL4SVCD
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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