The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3EQqLOAtUu
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdNpMAtt88E
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.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8qXpib9uQn
“Will we?” Marquita asks.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS5dypeApWz
“We won’t be eating.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkCfyWSoJqV
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCfkpYtjf4
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNTbHCXPsHD
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.” 736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3aLPEZRupy
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPygLd2IsW7
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSEj9CcMKUm
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsyLIDUp8Ic
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg6hBeHiVeq
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLmCgG4Dv1y
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9nd1bzSJw
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.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdRuo3IaWzp
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.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZOqRjWOm51
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Dm9kX9ODw
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2iAwjrv9N
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.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDE90R1Ed3b
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFzxDwEVahX
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgoxMQGotE
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.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWRp55DUhq
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.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbxtsCHNjvI
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ0ENE3H1OB
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKuAFLmeUWp
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNr7jotoS0L
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6UFdOOaAcc
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6jvq3w4jr
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.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYgJKeGZyMp
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.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBWzUkNuhrP
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?736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkPI4dkvLOJ
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.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQQkbsVCv8R
“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.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTf2oRUCjVh
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. 736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh0KTYpESZp
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcQZxUhDjYI
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR53DSYtP2x
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqVmlZNuCuX
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ29zsTFPvEP
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz8BptBDwAr
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxEvJMD9abf
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCyo5mbte9n
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIIHG38MJtV
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.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuotUrLKkQ4
“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”.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXgyUXVuFbM
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzUkwywNaFA
“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.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwESzEJumkX
“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.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJeqookmF4K
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMVGt0sSpBV
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEye87OdnOi
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC08yQMUDgj
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.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjrcDp936ot
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.736Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAM3c6UVx4z
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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