The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pQ0a8z1db
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOUFtaHJcBD
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.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1s2XNRhBi
“Will we?” Marquita asks.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡseWfOaADJw
“We won’t be eating.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeikLDkT3FV
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAUa24NZAIN
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxRSvm1f5EZ
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.” 609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡljpu8MLvCd
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbngQmwjU7o
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGQ8Xw0qost
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkB1TtZKgQ
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlZLdDMvdrH
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZLh3tHO8P6
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcBQoXkBIy6
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.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIz0yYyMQ83
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.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaIARRhTdCH
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡubPatDy5vL
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQj43CzdRNd
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.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlmC3Zsw0UT
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTUOPuJuN88
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEMkXpnugGg
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.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28BARfMln6
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.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcuzFB2BezQ
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBo5jqv9hjA
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRlWuMoCsJZ
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡElxQJOUQ20
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPsUOy2Kl4T
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmeVbaxb0ku
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.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNupWlLfmD8
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.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUBFWIPVz9T
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?609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGkYN8LexFk
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.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡefPIWPotAv
“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.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPb4WlQzoC
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. 609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvuXKGpv19w
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVOiIK0C0I
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrNCHP9Uqe
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcDyPAGzlYl
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfO6eadjC9W
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR9v4RbVRPj
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8KJEnqR1t5
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd73ObEo7Ni
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQnsIfKBSF
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.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkdXcfXCLs
“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”.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6GnSrRkjby
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfqHeYBl6b7
“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.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGVtkyoyM1
“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.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1qou4iop6m
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpKgXSVbDj7
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQvS4eZUGQy
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCzCkBSvmh5
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.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMUgf6s6WfS
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.609Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD57Dnf8BJj
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
ns3.145.15.164da2
