The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmdOM5bNgsu
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3nOJKaUZXH
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.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2CD2ioGdTJ
“Will we?” Marquita asks.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjkO9JrxSci
“We won’t be eating.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAS5UsLuQH7
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ilhC8Hpew
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgLmsiM14eQ
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.” 565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQowjvQfAc
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfD1c2MFr23
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyNRaRMC8UZ
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH42wT0KxgZ
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkP7eFMvD7
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqJgaDCCuTE
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsEI0jffISt
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT6yE3eplYq
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.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTOnajX0yKT
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4J9LIbzaBq
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYNfEzexWGa
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAJemN1i1cr
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdWBp05BKJW
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8o5IPemYej
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tzDt1Snzk
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeQ7gbVq7Ph
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8UVuxpCm46
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRpgG8dKS4O
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKAAcDocwFo
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO78CCiEQc6
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLn4KuDFzA
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHwdAFSKtIn
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.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4d4sRDfAWl
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?565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoM0yTrGXof
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA6mdIAaLMO
“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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY4QoO6UjEp
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. 565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiq9ncQfxFR
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡACRBUZr6Cw
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Y8ySX6biH
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDg262jciMX
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkvHTSj0Qg
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJOPUddG24
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhXjZ6u9xs6
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdurJj34fmL
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdS4TKSJlrU
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzoZnqcedWQ
“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”.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAHbb9cJy56
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2FXfczwHbZ
“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.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSIH9d2cDly
“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.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSddfqZa879
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTCjZDVaPu6
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjXnVhQabQ
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBRBL5DMSP2
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHIY4alnSJ
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFrZZt7ONNv
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
ns 15.158.61.8da2
