The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJaENI7EUb
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKdyd98hLKM
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.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8q36gBaFDL
“Will we?” Marquita asks.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡelDib2nR8H
“We won’t be eating.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWTOPVoM7RG
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeHUDsSoC5Z
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQsnet0rCKU
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.” 737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡia6kW93k8q
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQQXjuS9GTN
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ucOrLEJyu
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAiM7TOU44B
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLicklnaaJY
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdS8gOCN1N5
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR50im93ZyA
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4fw61EC9x2
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.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Yoycxv3S3
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv2SF9zXC76
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz862Nevwyk
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6q4fYeKQ4H
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ505bhO82Nd
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeH3yuniB7S
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7ENRF2fOv
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqhwnmS7wVB
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8hOEffB04
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmzmDEaRWb2
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Upt9sbPc4
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWX2ebDroYN
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiK8GZ4oTnH
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLrTtiGS1AF
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.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiFq8RFo582
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?737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9h6PBmriAT
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0hjRpNEkgr
“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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjfQsJfzK6
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. 737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeqrn15arnT
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡedRg1TNPYm
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvlcX7PevSJ
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkYN6wsXkR
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdT3bWptjkm
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmXYXdTyOim
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuLEnfxwmNE
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv5Anf7KH40
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡooEyzsGQ3y
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYBtcjzMvB
“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”.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTpvxa43yFc
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxPxsbBWbkH
“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.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZbCmFCO7P
“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.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVXiJ6YUvi0
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKp6jjnoNMX
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4QxLMIYxnZ
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMHTlBkODT
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1PO2NhDF1
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeAO1WJZMzj
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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