The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNfxXjKSBv
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNzzRKytPFy
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.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2mZXr3Enb9
“Will we?” Marquita asks.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡICu0fCUrPQ
“We won’t be eating.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfLzCykPrmb
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHI3pCZ4nDn
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoSn6oTSUUa
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.” 713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5T0Q6iHYvQ
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLZNyFF9ND0
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoPEKZsbdjG
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLcDrBopS2D
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhHv8vgddL
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbc5lv6Z1r6
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpLfOQPnZD
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.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡghYtEj1dht
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.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5BqEmOWQEF
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBYww5zzC2D
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjnrs50U1Zp
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.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm5VTEZvhv9
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhLFrW9oh6h
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHG809iN3qA
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.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYcwznYspYR
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.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF391ctVOSp
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7Rqce5WAG
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYSBKFm0WZm
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaZWWS3CJ9e
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QaPA8vatC
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0OijxCBgvK
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.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJdKgqr8NrO
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.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2eMseh6ZI
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?713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNdGhUsDCQ
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.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYdHxDfe3DN
“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.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfIOICBDUs
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. 713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSjkg5KHyTQ
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzsXwLpDKo0
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDvzE9fgb1
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIryriF5JY
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡapve3tvMSv
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzUZeKkVRzQ
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsS6v0fcLHi
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4scVbOWzxZ
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDfcR30RkFR
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.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVPzCtVNKg1
“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”.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQOHqKBnydf
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbfv4uax8Rc
“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.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbW7715huU
“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.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdauqtR5jiL
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTwrws5rAS1
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0hXbrJ0KJY
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9uZTdsuhPn
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.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0uepf7kJX
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.713Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN3rODJdNYN
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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