The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡspeqXaHkQt
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2ATuRxKGU
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.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9bpVVpDsAq
“Will we?” Marquita asks.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡulnTb8Vv2Q
“We won’t be eating.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0zdetFKu6
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ6DCmlT6VZ
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNA9AXUGM5r
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.” 730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKAoWe54zp6
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYidKXYNh5Q
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQ1QdEyyTE
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYeYHJhwohe
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7UomIJwq1
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0o2VupMJ7m
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYl9VjhMdx1
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.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOpnbkC5w8s
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.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWliofYkT21
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfRXHCxGL7v
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHNe7zxk1E
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.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWqwh9jJC0O
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr1xOCvqFpA
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwgPMnyjhE
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.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdSLOpX8XVG
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.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB93APtyRRL
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKzXVOtBQyV
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX1arYpKbg0
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjEBmm4ggeY
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjXyD767FkA
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvPz84QUrgb
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.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOvNw68Jd7i
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.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkFNTbO873A
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?730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw3QmMEaFfV
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.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwndT3MlI63
“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.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkMdwdqEBM4
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. 730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbeDiHN8li5
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuIhuDYxHNl
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlFe9Ese1ND
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4CVgJGHy1J
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6xIKgR48va
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLA61tlXs24
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCZCP6ieJMw
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN73HBeuojP
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsnrsgvecNx
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.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiCDWlPDFY9
“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”.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiKzOcotLbF
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpPn6oA8HQw
“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.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCy4V6piPdG
“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.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcet8Yum0zj
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWXhVc6Tef7
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4xSWUvGRR
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgIkvIaRyhN
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.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKlPVdWXzRJ
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.730Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk6y1iA1hVt
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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