The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkZ3jyiLbwi
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNhuG7peBQP
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.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnmutPcW6pu
“Will we?” Marquita asks.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3fOK5g9y0t
“We won’t be eating.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNPZzre6zSs
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGGF4vEgrtC
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡipzH0kS96w
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.” 632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiUqnE04dgZ
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk3Rb22b4nJ
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy5dtFI5VzZ
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ9Ej2rGpam
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUQn2xev8bc
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ62QrqV0oZo
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdBTbNZq7f4
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.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡykrsoc60sp
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.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9dNJx8JJoz
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZxOo3vBHTR
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeLMAkV3uKB
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.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHBF7cXilfd
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHviJ6ZjC49
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK8lkJC7Zqr
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.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm628WISv0Z
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.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDVTVFfQNL1
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTOY7VDNVr
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkJ9YXsxbR5
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkEIDjStoUA
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLyoMgNp6Nt
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZayAnvJHU
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.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCDdeYcTetr
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.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWxmE8P7GQc
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?632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCG9JEeiyos
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.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtzdqQLKivy
“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.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh7OiSAW4rf
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. 632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjgAum5Fn4W
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOZHe0KnML0
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZvdAxdxhDt
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1OFWb2Nl8a
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMFrx1IlOAr
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZGoCcRjNJA
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5juPQ8pjT6
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjQZdMolawl
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUbbRSzqr2Q
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.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡghfgHur4OL
“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”.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQ9ex8Uu5p
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsX6zFxlWG3
“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.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxeXSUKHHUl
“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.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcNAmiyukaI
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDZQhanIzSp
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMX2L1JoaTO
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJGik1sBBxm
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.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW4KVLrarjD
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.632Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1htT86LqUI
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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