The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8KPkpmTjNe
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx1wqoUCaFV
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.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLW7M2h7ky
“Will we?” Marquita asks.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ26A0TQ4VhG
“We won’t be eating.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeKNMk9ExfZ
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJmwOzv7YH8
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pCVWkkzAe
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.” 615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDirchVVFvm
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNbKLznYdyb
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVv7EA8l7yW
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvhJxoiRZul
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Z28iSQvxx
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14ad7cmrNu
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotjscg6qIA
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.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7a2MZeYFYm
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.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFfHHeoRZJ7
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuPK93WAuc2
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHF5Y79M0VF
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.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLETI1wFNKt
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXdkgG4RmN8
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfoFMucOpLi
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.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdcpffX8iFV
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.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNvD5OSqPNR
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCaQIYussm
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4f1cdM0M4e
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLqTUS4Pe0
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8zmwgTupzb
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaCVEzJxwD5
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.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKJzhguc8q
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.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsF6x0IG10i
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?615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNKK3GOUCZA
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.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJSrwcimNJB
“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.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtounws9t6v
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. 615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9LEr3jCWb
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY0k9Nhfp02
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡidLibd976T
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkOlpuZLSi
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2YFELXNb6
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2nNKCYNqU
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHzOW13NbOi
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxFdG16M91
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYC3ibu5Qft
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.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7FMgbd5K4z
“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”.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ499yfUAFs3
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeW9yaEeeVI
“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.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDUQur9b49
“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.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmrnANgoA0z
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj0fXwyd0kr
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmhw2VhTAOa
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ90sdIq9Vz1
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.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmaiLI1VwXC
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.615Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJVOSATaQxz
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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