The bus slows and come to a stop at a station next to a convenience store.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxoP4iuKfoR
The driver stands and announces in a loud voice, “Philadelphia. We have forty minutes.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXLfzKDZET6
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.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyDmBykkT5K
“Will we?” Marquita asks.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0lIHbQm8WI
“We won’t be eating.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ74UCNTRB4v
Mechteld reaches into the pocket of her hoodie and takes out a pack of cigarettes and lighter.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsrJ6SSq0tG
“Come on, I need a cigarette.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUuasWF9iV6
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.” 658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtPCvns2f1J
His aura changes to a shade Marquita has always associated with suspicion. With the other passengers away his thoughts come out clear.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3uZ5JuxP1J
“These two are weird. How do they even know each other?”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtFUR37Dkse
Marquita pauses to look at the driver and read more from him, but is interrupted by Mechteld pushing her forward towards the curb.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyA0WX60E4N
Once out of earshot, Mechteld says, “He’ll switch out at Pittsburgh. He’s thinking about saying something to the next driver about us.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZFxexSEazF
“Will he?” She asks. The thought is optimistic to her.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3DD77ar5d7
“Maybe, he doesn’t know what to say besides ‘They’re weird’.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGtOc00Hirb
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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3rPOOaA5N
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.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvvTSMWFYOH
“We’ll stand out worse without them.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFp558dJb3k
Marquita thinks, “Should I try to stand out? Is being noticed the key to getting home?”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3zm4dtyoI
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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUw0GSaepII
Turning to Mechteld she asks, “Do you really never eat?”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq9DKuIR9tY
“Only on rare occasions. Some immortals keep up the ritual, but it seems redundant to me.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz1wU3AnZcn
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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiS1sVQOjNp
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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBRhwaqJU5o
Thinking about her last meal Marquita says, “I could never give up my favorite food-”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlg8Q1TSR0Q
“Tostones.” They say at the same time.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiACF8pneWn
Mechteld nods, “Yeah, I know.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdutdXcv4Qw
“Surely you have a favorite food?” Marquita asks.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqn4eukRr3K
Mechteld takes a long drag from her cigarette and lets it out slowly, “You’re looking at it.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMB9lPDk6SW
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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnaEF3RSgg
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.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnjHEONPFF
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?658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWN64dpulUM
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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjG3HeAUj5j
“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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9WDtKFV9a
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. 658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2sl9b41de8
“He could never say it.” She says as she keeps remembering his hand waving back at her. “He always had to be so hard.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY8Q2Sbikhh
“It wasn’t his fault.” Mechteld offers. “He expressed himself in the way he knew how.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwjClLQ5U4
“I’d trade all the tostones in the world for one real moment with him.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdkStBtqHRA
Marquita hangs her head and thinks to herself, “Not even in the end could he do that.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAihRDkWsEX
“At least you knew.” Mechteld keeps her eyes on pavement. “He’ll regret actions for the rest of his life.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRWHaySbAE
Marquita turns to Mechteld with her eyebrows slightly lifted.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLTHu29lWg9
“Or at least until I see him again.” She adds.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7zeWCuHHJu
“If.” Mechteld corrects. “We’re only in Pennsylvania. You still have a long way to go.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcN9Va0Jm8R
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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM5X0qCCYEK
“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”.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjlugrUFV3G
Marquita grins slightly as she remembers, but her hazel eyes hold sadness.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57RXELMx9c
“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.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jlNCwDuCL
“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.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwNbKMG0cv9
“It wasn’t you he was running from. It was himself.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbVwMCX1MHh
“Yeah, but when you’re ten it doesn’t make a difference.”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf8V2T6Likj
From the bus the hear the driver shout, “Five minutes!”658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEY1G3uBLFW
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.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzL96HEBMgE
Mechteld stands and shakes stray ash from her clothes.658Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA31DCOUbFN
“Come on, let’s go. Use your eyes and ears this time.”
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