The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6VJmwvHXn
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCEcv9mWGMQ
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.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ03hwAsnPfx
“Will we?” Marquita asks.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8vrQFpP3ER
“We won’t be eating.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxSRprdhVU
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ52QIVWg4iy
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ42pptCSdm
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.” 638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtkCwSqv2op
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOkiKodTWMF
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUvI3kA4r8i
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSnPlkKNhM6
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbboc5BrC2g
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7Q00urWtj
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoSl1e1gGXL
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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHRymVlEzDZ
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.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIuA3rSceBo
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ6wLgRVyKr
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyUnq4Qm37z
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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBbsOYe2x2w
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWjBXX3WvRv
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRHfNU35hwy
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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQL8IrZVffO
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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6A9cGAOG9i
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRydletBAv
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUixmEvHyE6
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3242JBDyx
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTfqIy8cLhF
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz4oo63ByoC
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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbk7ax647X
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.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbymWZyT0VF
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?638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc7icT36NZX
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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeq9xkeR0qr
“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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8heLU2oFq6
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. 638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5WvdrIhxU3
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUeeh3GjlYx
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHjGcozKQoc
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM1rEl0J1it
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoJsRu5mkMO
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbAyy7k3tcE
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNyzP3ynT5e
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZencAfpUS
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxEpADZgHie
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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGyYXHcewj
“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”.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr8sQkFBnva
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPNLZ7f8vAy
“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.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA0sq1hPhm4
“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.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsB02pQ6wPf
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwZ6IYlbz0J
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYYSC4MdaUb
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLfC7R22doN
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.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk6sbroCNxj
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.638Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMAoNU933by
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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