Blessed by Night

Once the door actually opened, everyone inside the shop paused and stared at the door to see who was entering.

Naturally, when they saw Malachi coming in with two girls, the reactions were appropriately boisterous, but there were two who were more ecstatic than others.

"There's grandpa's baby!" Ali slid to the floor on his knees and held out his arms dramatically.

Camille let out a happy squeal and let go of her father's hand immediately in favor of the bearded older man.

Ali lifted the young girl up and spun her around to her profound amusement.

"You getting so big again! You being good at home?"

"Da!" Camille lied.

"That's my grandbaby!" Ali beamed.

He reached in his pocket and pulled out a wad of silver-colored cash. The new regime's credit currency.

Ali unfolded a roll of bills and handed Cami the equivalent of around 100 dollars.

Cami was so happy that her wings popped out of her back and she let out several thank-you squeals.

Among all of her grandparents, Ali is without a doubt Camille's favorite, and it doesn't even come close.

Perhaps because Ali already has experience raising young daughters, he took to Camille immediately.

Everyone else was practically helpless to separate them.

Because of this, Nyx isn't the biggest fan of Ali and doesn't exactly shy away from making it known.

"Nephew!"

Aisha's father Trevor also came up to give Malachi like the family they were, and briefly took his mind off of the paranoia he felt over what his daughter would do with all that money.

In the back of his mind, he figured it might be best to shoot a text to the girls so they'd know if anything new showed up in the house.

Trevor suddenly paused when he saw Celeste trying to hide behind Malachi.

He looked back and forth between the two before a knowing smirk crossed his face. "He finally wore you down, huh?"

"That seems to be the case..." Celeste's cheeks turned a faint pink. "We're still keeping it a secret for now though, so if you could..."

"Ah, say no more, ma'am. My lips are sealed." He said in a very gentlemanly manner.

From that point on, Malachi had to do his usual go-rounds with the usual faces that frequent a barbershop.

The owner who wanted to take a picture with him and frame it for posterity.

The scammer who tried to get him to buy a box of bootleg movies on a flash drive.The other scammer who tried to peddle fake sneakers out the back of his trunk.

The judgmental pastor trying to bring him back to religion.

The depressed married guy who didn't even need a haircut, and was only there so he wouldn't have to go home to his wife and kids.

The barber who's chair was almost always empty because he couldn't give a straight line-up to save his life.

The sports expert who supposedly almost went pro, but injured his knee in his defining season.

And last but not least, the guy whose wife was selling plates in an attempt to save up enough money to open her own restaurant.

That guy was Malachi's favorite.

Interestingly enough, Ali and Trevor had their own archetypes.

The muslim who heavily advocated for everyone in the shop to remove pork from their diets, and the white guy who fit in so well that no one even batted an eye at him anymore.

Malachi and Celeste were sharing a pulled pork sandwich with potato salad while he waited to get his haircut.

In the meantime, Ali and Camille gave them dirty looks and Trevor told the shop about the perils of learning about his daughter's wedding.

"- Now mind you, the only piece I ever met was the one! My lil' baby calls me like a week ago, says: 'dad I'm getting married'. I'm like 'sweetie that's great, you and Aubrey will be very happy together.' Why the hell she come back and tell me it ain't just her?"

Celeste felt like she was watching a different person altogether. She had never seen Trevor this… animated.

"Has he always been so-" she whispered.

"Ever since I was able to walk." Malachi didn't even look up from his plate. "Just gotta keep him out of earshot of Auntie M."

While Celeste was largely confused, the rest of the barbershop was just entertained.

"So y'all know me, I damn near get whiplash from any kinda change, so I'm like 'babygirl you gotta pump the breaks, it took me forever just to remember Aubrey's birthday, and I was there when she was born!' Do you know this girl told me: 'Well now you got four more to remember.' …Y'all, Marianne had to come pick me up off the kitchen floor."

Laughter erupted in the shop.

Even Malachi had to stuff down a chuckle, while Celeste almost choked on her sandwich.

The moment was perfect. Soulful, inclusive, harmonious and jovial. Everything one could want from an afternoon at a barbershop.

And then, the final archetype chimed in unprovoked. The Instigator. Aka- the Hateful Motherfucker.

This version of the instigator was named Eric. A 46 year old factory worker with two ex-wives and a restraining order from each.

He was not a shop regular, but instead a random who had wandered in from the street. Making his next statement doubly audacious.

"Damn, that's crazy. The man's bulldagger daughter got more game than him."

Immediately, all laughter ceased.

Celeste's mouth fell open in horror.

Malachi pulled her feet into his lap and exchanged a pitying look with Ali. His father-in-law just placed a pair of headphones over Camille's ears.

Celeste looked at Malachi like he had grown a second head. 'Aren't you going to say something?!' She thought.

In response, Malachi pulled out a raincoat and draped it over her torso.

Trevor had a half-smile on his handsome face, almost as if he was trying to believe he hadn't heard what he'd heard. "…What was that?"

Eric held up both hands in surrender. "Aww, y'all don't need to get all sensitive on me now, I thought everything was fair game in the shop."

"That's why you worked in a factory for 25 years straight, thinking ain't your strong suit. Last I checked my baby girl wasn't in here to defend herself." Trevor removed the barber's cape from around his neck and stood up.

"Now I asked… what you said."

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, pretty boy, I know soft hands run in the family, but-"

"You can apologize or you can see me outside." Uncle Trevor started uncuffing his sleeves and rolling them up.

Obviously, he already had a scenario he would prefer.

The surrounding shop-goers were torn between trying to stop the conflict and egging it on.

"Don't do it to him, Trev! He new!"

"Nah, fuck all that! Don't let him talk about your baby girl like that! That ain't how us dads get down!" Read exclusive adventures at My Virtual Library Empire

"Even the lord god would sometimes discipline his flock. Man must feel the consequences of their own tongue if they are ever to learn."

"Somebody set a table up!"

Eric stood up with two of his friends. Then Ali stood up in response.

Two of Eric's friends sat back down, and so did Ali.

"I ain't repeating shit! Fuck y'all, I'm going home!" Eric huffed.

"You don't apologize to my daughter, I guarantee you won't make it home. Hell, you won't hit that door before I get to you."

"Watch me, bitch!"

Eric took exactly two steps before Uncle Trevor caught up to him.

He threw out perhaps the single most telegraphed punch that Malachi had ever seen.

Ali covered Camille's eyes prematurely.

Uncle Trevor weaved out of Eric's reach and threw out a left and a right of his own.

Eric's head was snapped in two different directions- sending blood and teeth across both sides of the room.

Aisha's father owned a gym back in Alabama. They used to have the best boxing classes in the state.

If Malachi hadn't covered Celeste, she would have stained the lovely white blouse she was wearing.

But he neglected to cover the plate they were eating, and a tooth flew into his pork sandwich. He could have cried.

Eric went down and the barbershop exploded. Trevor was jostled like a glorified super-bowl mvp and dap was dolled out by the pound.

It was no surprise that even Ali came to give him his dues and applaud his lack of hesitation.

Malachi saw Celeste just staring at the world in confusion. He found her unbelievably cute.

"You regretting coming with me yet?" He asked.

For some reason, that simple question caused Celeste's laughter to spill over.

She wiped a running tear from her eye as she shook her head. "No… not at all."

Very little could have made her more attractive in that moment.