The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgR6jOxv5if
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIoRgO7BtwV
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.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqOKus6McXy
“Will we?” Marquita asks.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlmSKAxGYsD
“We won’t be eating.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd6ZEZJH9U2
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYSgQrShEm8
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBvhjyxPnz
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.” 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2bjEEATYoI
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT3BQ8BsQvz
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZQ5F57jL1c
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6rrwWRndKV
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQb4DNWmv6
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6SpaF8bQpJ
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqDMLD1rcqH
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.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfPe9HA0pZ2
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.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTgNRpylPu9
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡceyscWpPDa
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡelvQFRaIOr
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.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4vmLYf3C6A
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVLp3gAfljY
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYPXMmkfqo
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.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDMLPJFfP1t
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.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhBNfTqbMc7
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUirkNjet47
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmpctyUk8cP
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiV30jrKneL
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQgStztsV25
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCNHL9QT8K3
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.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaPiDXCDW2y
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.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt53ACuIbwW
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?564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHtWklDrgd
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.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpy4odKFpQo
“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.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwPdylb1a0M
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. 564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJXmn0fF6A
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7mozmzEQy
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv6zYV0hp2b
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡktW5ylThXW
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRC4epOmhPI
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIzJ5nj28s3
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb0BbMxfylj
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHrosR44p8n
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0py7yjwClY
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.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJryiKhuN7I
“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”.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPSJOjj3q1T
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPhFSlsyoqn
“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.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmSrJ4fxwB1
“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.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVr6MTEIZvu
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡox64UwJsf1
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhSqlPlO4ZV
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYc0sXtveE
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.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrDTvgtPSTx
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.564Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5nvTo3nIc8
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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