The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV1JM5vuUos
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiPi2yQy9mq
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.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbaoR6jtKHi
“Will we?” Marquita asks.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjnzducRUSJ
“We won’t be eating.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdgjmjpMfGn
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxCnknFgxxZ
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNX1YjqyTIJ
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.” 682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXHGHCyeEMq
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxpyBlBa0G
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvaCZs7Qfox
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHmin3xj9kA
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkyz9dqX0eO
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1KCMmrC8Md
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZyAa5xlw9
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.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzb4YxNYa9
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.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHsS0GH3vi
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL9UWUZc1k4
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2uwTDgPeVN
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.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgsAEmk8cFU
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1eZBDWXYu0
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZRi34WEaA
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.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj1t2MdbFcX
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.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Y37yPAC1a
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdOTgtIdWSJ
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8zdbinRy3P
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5SZy5zEta4
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3rLEP2vdmy
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVSrxlZgkXD
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.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJyUk77L8fB
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.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsTpCu8t11m
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?682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn6C58I2Wtp
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.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlQL7RknARy
“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.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡckLRkb1WN8
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. 682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjENGVTSeLo
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxRvQbyLaGj
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaiZXRvgHq3
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLgiYe5PtHh
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoPYF5myNhR
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡewjIevdvWi
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ175bQIcDkd
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8qlAfW153T
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqC724mXspw
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.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKNgTBNB4mp
“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”.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzYVji6IeeH
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUhTymF0MCE
“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.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQjawOlSiLo
“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.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9MijOTsmsM
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9QfcQJ2pEs
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg3An0sfOwl
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxgPt8bczTw
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.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQv6nCTXT97
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.682Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN6tNXSEc6f
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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