The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6V1MAdy0L
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOqLmMJOYf
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.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡByA7IMbe09
“Will we?” Marquita asks.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGfw1424k9q
“We won’t be eating.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHoccB9OpYd
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCyE5RNPAaJ
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAfWmQVxrGh
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.” 588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmQ5dAmAVwu
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2OLvHS07YY
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB9cy1YuYHA
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjsFrPyHAGC
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWCdT2r8IoU
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsaaqqDurgY
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡba0n9am0Xr
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.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5uV8wXbQ1
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.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24uN3yyq3Z
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5wXmH0YvQ
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZYrkR9beE
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.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO69qHMz01R
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVYN6JDFm6
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoSt3u3xqA8
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.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtrVf2grHT1
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.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIcgzFuz76T
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGrdGBu9yB6
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHRNGvvHb9
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡthA56V2v5J
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpGLYmQyGlc
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQc6SfOcCOW
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.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡklrGGi8xrb
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.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD459g4A1he
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?588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwWCwylMFAN
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.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRo1eMRUVOI
“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.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYHIDjWjJps
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. 588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs96JXdNNkY
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCcKcQkWPoH
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlJvS4jIW7D
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmiTray7ZQH
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtzx4F3s0wZ
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn701x06oCb
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIx9fD5Gju
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcGMcIys8zD
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSBBU8Z0HOz
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.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDZOTlGVYRG
“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”.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxm7NV4VW0
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEWaFkNyGFm
“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.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPCx2v3QjY
“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.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPT0bVavxU
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOMItMwf02A
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlADyqxsVn5
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡopGyW5JBhg
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.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRQvQ3AbUoK
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.588Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCDg6rshjcO
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
ns 15.158.61.40da2
