The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxx3UXUMP73
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr0O3AY1sVa
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.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHcS20Piqoi
“Will we?” Marquita asks.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqXU6YQme3
“We won’t be eating.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdx8fTrXfN
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1hmAWFp5Fh
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTh2tGanQtu
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.” 664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2cMMaxZkZ9
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeDhYKIDp0D
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4uDe94QScd
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Qc2Ht2ZuJ
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pgJUltYPq
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaVO9MdHT3h
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaCRaZTdxeP
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.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4FEwmPuCjN
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.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmwFEgi6Fdp
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WxKIH6utw
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh03Qe5db8N
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.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnVOaL04dIz
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEM6PDxWqzZ
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz202YzeCvm
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.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkeWXxZ4bb
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.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqNi8QL1v0A
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhqiLr00nyS
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28kPo3JJSA
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLGe9oAkVlI
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUeZSAljY22
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBDnxeqSED5
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.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhkLhXowhK6
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.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGC8smEB2iV
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?664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD8cCV0LNk9
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.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJIY5Zq0wC
“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.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6elJGSFmfo
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. 664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNdOT2i8I7g
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuwdnf7y8Z0
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlrHJVCir69
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnNpw68AmLC
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuHdrhoGOfk
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6RZpxxu1Bw
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLmfCL36TNz
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSHPAtzb52P
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8vExfK36AR
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.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6KrGAPNxiX
“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”.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW30mmJWwXb
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXo4PsaIV1
“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.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK525vXTfjW
“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.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQL4FYyAWDH
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjkCOG3TXC6
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnd1EWOu0kB
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qeN44xGkn
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.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAUi2rNqKAY
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.664Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMuFSqYltIP
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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