Marquita watches Mechteld whose eyes wander from passenger to passenger.
“I know she’s hiding something. There has to be more to this.”
Marquita wonders if she is reading minds or just ignoring her. She too begins to watch the other occupants, trying to explore their minds, but is only met with blur of incomprehensible chatter.
In a soft voice Marquita finally breaks Mechteld’s concentration by asking, “What can I do?”
Mechteld blinks a few times as she unconsciously cracks a knuckle, “What do you mean?”
Slightly hesitant, Marquita elaborates, “Now that I’m like you, what can I do?”
Mechteld lightly shrugs before answering, “You’re doing it right now. You’re living”
Timidly, Marquita inquires further, her voice becoming quieter with each word. “No, I mean… you know… powers.”
Mechteld’s body goes completely still. Slowly she turns her face to Marquita. Her eyebrows crinkle together into a knot on her forehead as her lips pucker into a sneer that gives her numerous scars grisly embossments.
“Powers?” She gruffly asks, “Please do not be referring to super hero powers.”
Marquita’s cheeks grow warm as she nervously stammers, “Well, no, but-“
Mechteld quickly cuts off Marquita’s answer, “You’re the same person, only immortal.”
There’s only a short pause before Marquita interrupts again by whispering.
“Do I need to…suck blood or eat people to continue living?”
Mechteld looks at Marquita with mocking astonishment. The knot on her forehead is now smooth as her brows straighten and her eyes become wide. Her mouth hangs open before answering, “Dear God Marquita, no. You are not a ghoul or a vampire.”
Marquita speaks quickly, explaining, “Well, I don’t know. I’m still trying to understand what’s happened to me.”
Mechteld shakes her head and questions, “What on Earth would make you assume that?”
In a small voice, Marquita answers, “You have heads-”
But before she can finish her sentence Mechteld digs her fingers into the armrest and cast her an intense icy stare.
In a quiet, yet forceful voice Mechteld says, “You’re a sixteen-year-old girl and you’ll always be a sixteen-year-old girl.”
Mechteld turns her eyes to the front of the bus again. Marquita leans away from her and brings her knees up to her chest. It hadn’t dawn on Marquita that not only would her body never change, but also it would never grow again. Her small frame would never be able to reach the admirable height of her mother’s. Her arms would never reach the top self, she would spend an eternity balancing on her toes, and her hips would never show where her torso ended and legs began.
In a mournful tone she asks, “I’ll always be sixteen?”
“Physically.” Mechteld answers, but she notices the Marquita’s downcast expression.
“What’s wrong with that?” Mechteld asks, “Most women would kill for the chance.“
Marquita looks down to her body, which is easily scrunched into the small seat. Underneath her skirt, her legs feel like skinny twigs. Her knees easily pressed against her collarbone, unhindered by fat or strain.
“I’ll never look like a woman.”
Mechteld scoffs, “You look like a woman to me.”
Marquita leans back and now examine her chest.
“I’ll never have breasts.”
Mechteld cringes in her seat. She pulls her ball cap over her eyes and lets out a long sigh.
“Uhh...Are you kidding me?” Mechteld leans her head back in exasperation before saying; “I’m going to need you to not say anything for at least three hours.”
“I’m sorry, when the doctor told me I had five years left the first thing I thought was I’ll never become a woman. Now I get to live, but I have to be la enana forever.”
Mechteld lifts her hand, silencing Marquita. “Three hours, nothing for three hours.”
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and pulls a mp3 player with tangled headphones. She raises her hat again and delicately she begins tug at the headphone wires.
Noticing the device Marquita asks, “Wait, do I get a mp3 player?”
Mechteld continues her unraveling, never looking at Marquita. “Do you have one on you?”
“No.”
“Then I guess not.” Mechteld flatly answers.
Marquita shifts uncomfortably.
“But I want to listen to music, too.”
Unconcerned, Mechteld answers, “That’s nice, but this one is mine.”
Marquita pulls at the cloth of her hijab as looks at traffic slowly passing by the bus. She gives a frustrated sigh, “There’s nothing to do.”
Mechteld clenches her jaw as the knot on her forehead returns.
“Look out the window.”
“We’re on the turnpike. That’s not interesting.”
“God damn, just be quiet.”
Mechteld untangles the rest of her headphone wires and places a bud in her ear, but before placing the second Marquita asks, “Did you bring anything to eat?”
Mechteld closes her eyes as she makes a fist around the ear bud.
She struggles to keep her voice calm as she says, “You don’t need to eat anymore. I went over this.”
“Well, I can nibble, can’t I?”
Mechteld closes her eyes and breathes deep, “All I have are cigarettes.”
Slowly, Mechteld unclenches her fist and raises the second ear bud to her ear.
“That’s not very healthy. Cigarettes give you cancer.”
Mechteld breathes deep before forcing the second bud in her ear. “I’ve been smoking since America was a colony.”
“I can’t even sleep. I’m going to be bored.”
“You need to manage your boredom. You have an eternity ahead of you and most days aren’t very exciting.”
“There isn’t anything to do.”
Mechteld reaches down to a side pocket on her bag, pulling out a deck of cards.
“Play solitaire, make a house of cards, or stare out the window. I don’t care. Just be quiet.”
Taking the cards Marquita begins to whine, “But, I don’t know how to play-“
Again Mechteld raises and hand and silences Marquita, “Lesson number three Marquita, you seriously need to shut up now.”
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