The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZpVub0jJ1m
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeW7BGEzTd2
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.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9tMahYmUlB
“Will we?” Marquita asks.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJU3Lawneou
“We won’t be eating.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnVLHSlhzWk
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡefB9t9nC7i
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLdrlY4yyiP
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.” 708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9Zdysh52l
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIEieEG1MPK
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkWJcz7PgC4
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn1NXDOWffc
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVygrVms5Hc
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2wwLU6wVO
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡifdJVeG2eH
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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrL0phbafCI
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.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSeY9XcYVDh
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa90U2fV9GR
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ86Qn1Z2NoM
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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhthrvSqh2
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxQ3MFgbGr
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlD3EL8DHl3
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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Ql7iBcCl6
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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOmc2ZKVOew
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcrdBJ64QLG
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTavHnlJj2
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXF4lpWA2gk
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYtp5IY7Qy1
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvC4UfJ5Prd
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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpsr7hH9K1C
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.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM0hAM6FdTM
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?708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1DaXZNGQs9
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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPpcn2X6N37
“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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7V3bQ0oTQ
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. 708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq3nItqUKUW
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa5zTCSOIez
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl2mVHDvSPG
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKZq7i3UBE
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZaLxHPuyn
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9qnPNR5Ef
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2fa2xYk6A
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5RJEagfJb6
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlGyBT36ArQ
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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrL2MHfGzlB
“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”.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGOJ7ZJ9Z7
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkMhEH4yoCP
“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.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡokUY1bh9o1
“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.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTKw346a9D
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSLFhPVg4ZZ
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmrgUFDoi7s
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRFmPMPMTAD
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.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGrGYw9ZSup
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.708Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrvS68z1Fdu
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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