The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2zagDHaoE
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuX6VijiPjw
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.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbQFcLGBz89
“Will we?” Marquita asks.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbns3y1Y0i
“We won’t be eating.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnk2Y4BoIwX
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVQxs6AXSIg
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡal9OefOCa1
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.” 663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnkYDZ8uZs
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEhpP5pfLP
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhlo9EnuM9y
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhQEVhXciNN
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ53piSbOPYX
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZf6KLo6smn
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA6MzIvW3JP
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.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkhCTBGRS1q
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.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJGwvy3XtLy
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8bSp6GhJCK
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZsl6N1Gbze
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.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1WNuX2Z5at
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPM92dnj9uP
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYG3g0RWPuF
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.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6UgSh5VD1W
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.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwIkF1vRJl5
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaSMsez1eyf
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHJPaDilRT
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5KEldx5Pnx
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlmy1MqcO4R
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gMz8QNCnn
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.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1fby5UZYrM
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.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX3MVCZm5Hl
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?663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD2x9ICSZNq
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.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwCyHmmZe3Y
“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.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6eRrnhuMOg
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. 663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5kYoTO7JdB
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjzsSSR5ybK
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkuK7umJpig
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdzQOB91ceJ
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNRK4BH7KU
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEqUIWq68Z
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRWn3KH6Jj2
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY3gkpKrBCu
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Qyn2tRSLE
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.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ZHH6nFhBi
“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”.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiFxTNILu6z
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdFY8uzVojY
“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.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWac3APtcQy
“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.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdich4fwVAS
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqIfdeBwH4
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnIgiF2K6ZZ
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6X8yXLWb8o
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.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Nyh0TFKbQ
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.663Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY1ERputGeG
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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