The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW2tGO2L6Vh
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD9GPqdbxRJ
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.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7y8pZL640b
“Will we?” Marquita asks.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7qIAtM4zWJ
“We won’t be eating.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg68k0na6pH
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLVGdqeMYhV
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQUPvZEF9hf
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.” 614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZ0rH0FIui
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDoW8afI9w
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiqzSW6UNqG
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQjPBj9aEc8
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUIta9sN3xF
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqjt1iil7U2
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2nSsdAOmfy
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.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7fP0NXytj
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.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0o19ng9BlN
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP5GcOCD2Vh
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGOSI0b7KQE
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.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5AmVeWJYDQ
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa6FMLpslhV
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbWcCF8tPDv
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.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJn7XEQNEcc
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.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnOf5o6pUX
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs56mmgZ8Kq
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHW3Xr69U6f
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4K1nyzcL32
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJM8oL7TRVD
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5eSSNH5vqD
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.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnoJYE29ABy
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.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ94ntB0y87X
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?614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHGuCIZfAZu
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.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNjv6v2Jun
“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.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEz6AVINZOw
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. 614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWQyYjms6we
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMLgBhDnZGM
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvsPlwS7cmb
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLw3NbAqsR6
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpL9iBnYoaL
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHNLLzBsr0y
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwRTYyi2jtG
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZRN3TGxOsr
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ84fU0mbOWp
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.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGHKz1Y8eN4
“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”.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHdQC48C4AH
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUkpUhU6EmR
“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.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡACBqHaIVq0
“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.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8f1pDW1Su1
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGmpNghcHHv
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjHdFqh413T
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4SenjuLhIl
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.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZGUomFquDo
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.614Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS8t72pwRyL
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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