The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK8HKhtsQvU
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbgvMGdD7D0
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.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNdONeyXuc9
“Will we?” Marquita asks.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡChAEB00PCb
“We won’t be eating.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB11xZdGRbJ
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0B3SGjBay3
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvA2dtMePVZ
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.” 732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiSc0Xb95KH
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsOpvxNK5Pd
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMCbmZhpHTO
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd7xMERNe09
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡipSYJsiXhf
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXwrI5oQLc
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgP1viaxIaF
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.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ78gDsGZ2Nb
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.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKWUoJVEEp
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4F5CVRzh7A
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnjAWLPtKEm
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.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ3mBu87T6Q
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHmix96jKs
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrK7dL3LdD
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.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhK9YXYO6zW
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.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTdrl72VMRC
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNua2PxY9q5
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdgSsWC972v
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGvzHVGFLgz
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc2UV4We6MY
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0kznd8EAql
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.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzcU34WLPwK
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.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2qTWMuq0fj
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?732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4wTHIRhlJD
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.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkfp74EHaa
“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.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyngJoWB8lL
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. 732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ01STyNFtkd
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Izu3o3GbB
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Azam5rqBn
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBc8NSYwQrp
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWEKMauf2zL
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6nIpaK3oyd
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbn9efVJ7P
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu3FMrym3UW
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2IluCb2sLk
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.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jwgkms0ju
“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”.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiVHbQ0DKYM
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYlmwtaMoO8
“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.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQkiKDF55x
“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.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8KQNv6s3rQ
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXfdOcb1kM2
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5oHLpjVihQ
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8H3x9IAuqr
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.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaQFYN6J5jU
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.732Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkTnZZE673Z
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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