The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfb1Bcs8XuX
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2BOWeZDeON
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.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXYS2e11TLM
“Will we?” Marquita asks.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU33TQ1Thag
“We won’t be eating.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡntf2HKKBuJ
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmkcVZtByFt
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvrpn9ZrOlg
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.” 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrBAjzPFja4
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYAXYpj8PrX
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJxwy0dzu19
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnpEJmjD4Br
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiMwiVUtp3Z
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5zgO6Yn79F
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pk4BvY51Z
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.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQr1qs1SYQ6
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.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBdVtSB8Xun
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk3TbYs1Zwb
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡytb02x5zRv
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.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5f89rkENnj
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzJilUjB4pY
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3gNZDAPHFL
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.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZcgir45X4
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.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLLyrJPVZw
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu1eJvrJuXM
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡef7tcTgqI0
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZC6HrskYX
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfI9f8bAxWW
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7wUt8Pke0
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.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50ndeu25uX
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.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAHHfp37KW1
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?679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ZQ9LniSvw
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.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ32a3b8H7yb
“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.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ51a8XHn2SA
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. 679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmdnxzVKCRe
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPbUWtS9LkF
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdeDfGTVcqf
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdVnQNUqHvC
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNEXubjoX4C
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOyMI5MHFHa
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6dszruX9qJ
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBP4IIcgMJG
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygda0EQ4mV
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.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAgLOACzopz
“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”.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavY6k5WbYZ
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpb1f31Zh4J
“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.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZCejlLK8M7
“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.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡahUpkh1tdA
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA2Rs8gqdJy
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8JJUnVhT5j
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGd5AcUhzUR
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.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡatiRbXoJq4
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMXizHwNMm0
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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