The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhZSecKl4L4
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRzBFG7zv3O
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.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzSPOyDLOIS
“Will we?” Marquita asks.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWHXqaB1rdT
“We won’t be eating.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ06FrgIbvp9
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxqVFc9Sn1
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1nDlaU6k4q
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.” 696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjuNn1mS00T
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ931pPP8ydl
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkpg7pgx5N
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jgwTEiRkF
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxuMxv6lvvY
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF3OqGULulG
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQOkLuw3mEl
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.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7uHdRKmNI0
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.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsyBb67hr9P
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ5jPURwwXE
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQLxzbKTAo
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.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3dx0KVNhdI
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC7vV7OWR7r
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfEwedjzLkk
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.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRsFdMSTUaD
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.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRv6mm7ijel
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqyrm3vruVp
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7k9fazQB0S
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvCqtcc1aQ
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiYZeA1RODG
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHoz66aEXgW
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.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡathSx9XnlA
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.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡviZEnxo5CX
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?696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMJJhC5ToAg
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.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ9PE9nzfPF
“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.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT52oTaWaeq
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. 696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡapv2hKRSYV
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWVhKPtqJd5
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMMRJC0ueA1
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡClN92xaILx
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkpUSAhrOX7
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBRw9wqIb4f
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLXCYJd9pqq
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5UQdvIS58L
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPe50esJAJ6
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.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡluCSVazjA0
“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”.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS8gfWtcwNu
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2tYBvjBtDS
“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.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLGg56YdW9d
“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.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRyOmXpb9FO
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZXyAKtiqT
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Ij5S1Kjc5
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡImhVBjQeur
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.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp1lvMaW0MP
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkKTTTxkg0O
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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