Blessed by Night

- Lowndes County, Alabama.

An acre of land sat isolated off a dingy dirt road.

The warmth of the midday sun shone down on the area, creating an unlikeable but not unusual 72-degree day.

The only home out here was a modest one in both size and appearance.

However, despite the modest size of the home, the surplus of people in attendance was a sight to behold.

Community and fellowship were picking up right where they left off with no gap in decorum.

A man in a white tank top and sunglasses was polishing a classic 1972 Plymouth Barracuda.

In front of him was a crowd of awed men all holding beers and impressed gazes.

"Yea… When one of them big ole' terrors came, I stood ten toes in front of this baby to defend her with my life! Y'all know I had some army training back in the day, so I was quick to go in my closet and dust off my Desert Eagle. Had me looking like John Wick the way I took that sucker down."

"He lying." one of the men jeered. Everyone around them fell into fits of laughter.

The man in the wife beater held one hand over his chest and raised another in the sky.

"I swear 'fore Jesus I'm not! You know how I gets down about Bernadette.

The laughter just became even louder, and the man threw his towel at the group out of frustration.

"Hey, y'all!" A new man walked up carrying a paper plate with fish and white bread. "They just pulled the fish out the grease, gon' head and getcha some."

Only a couple of men broke off from the crowd, waddling away to procure a savory snack before it had been cooled down. The rest remained standing in place and shaking their heads.

"Man… Where is Ali big ass?? I had my heart set on his meat all week." One man complained.

Several sideways glances were exchanged.

"D-Don't start giving me that look! Y'all know what I meant!"

The snickering of the group was the only sort of response he received.

"Look!" a young boy suddenly pointed.

The men standing around followed his finger as he pointed towards the sky.

There, a large black tiger could be seen with many people across its back.

Folks from all over the barbecue started to come around to stare at the large creature seemingly pulled right from a fantastical zoo.

As the creature shrank in size, several figures descended from its back.

"Y'all hungry yet?!" Ali smiled.

Several jeers and exclamations filled the air. Most of them were around Ali's poor timing, but there were a few that made exclamations about the large cat he had just so happened to ride in on.

One by one, the other adults arrived on the back of the creature. Each of them were holding tin pans with aluminum foil covering the morsels inside.

"Show me to the gril-"

*Fwoosh!*

A column of fire suddenly rose into the sky and caused everyone to step back.

"Ah, sorry to scare everyone!"

Morgan stepped through into view with Emilia and Crystal at his side.

Instead of the usual suit he always wore, he instead had on a button-down shirt with khaki shorts and sandals.

He was also carrying a suspiciously large pan that was too big to contain just potato salad…

'He didn't…' Mal shook his head.

"It's okay everybody!" Ali wrapped his arm around Morgan's neck. "This here is a good friend of mine from New York. This is my boy Morgan, and his wives Emilia and Crystal."

Everyone's eyes were wide as they blinked in shock.

There wasn't a person here who didn't already know Morgan Creed. Right now, the guy was practically the president.

Seeing him just show up to a random barbecue was incredibly disorienting.

For everyone except the elders in the family that is.

"Well, just come on in and get comfortable!" An old woman invited. "Just warning y'all, we don't have any gold chairs or anything fancy like that here."

Morgan and the girls merely laughed. "Oh, I assure you that we don't need any of that. I did bring a little something by though to show my appreciation…"

Morgan used his telekinesis to remove the aluminum foil on the tray he was carrying.

It was like the famous scene pulled from Pulp Fiction. A golden light and an encoring smell both burst out and nearly blinded the partygoers.

"I didn't want to show up empty-handed so I did some burnt ends at the last minute. Just to throw a little something together." Morgan shrugged casually.

"Good lord almighty…"

"That's mighty kind of you, sir. Bless you."

"Mommy, can I have one?!"

"L-Let me show you to the picnic table.."

'I know this motherfucker didn't…' Ali's jaw fell open.

As Morgan was led away by no less than thirty individuals who were foaming at the mouth over his pork dish, Ali slowly turned around to face Emilia and Crystal.

"…In our defense, we did lock his grill and his spice cabinet. I even have potato salad right here." Emilia gestured.

"Then how?!" Ali cried.

"He paid Trevor twenty credits to use his." Crystal revealed.

Saying that Ali felt betrayed didn't even begin to fully cover it.

His ribs and chicken still needed to be cooked for god's sake! He'd need at least an hour's time!

"Hey, Dad? Where do you want all this stuff?" Bianca asked

Ali suddenly had a realization that made him feel like he was struck by lightning.

"Babygirl… you remember how when you got your powers, I made you a promise that I would never ask you to use them for selfish reasons?"

"Well… Yea?" Bianca shrugged.

"I take all that shit back. Come on, let's work."

-

Morgan was experiencing one of the greatest highs of his life.

Being praised for his humanitarian efforts felt good. But being praised for his acquired culinary acumen was borderline euphoric.

Especially at events like this.

Unsuspecting faces were chowing down on his burnt ends like they were made of meaty gold.

Morgan tried to keep himself humble. He felt it was imperative with his responsibilities and great powers.

But barbecuing caused the power to go straight to his head. No one could convince him that he wasn't the best to ever touch a grill.

"Look at cousin BB!"

"My lord, what a sight..."

"Hold on now, I gotta get a picture."

Suddenly, everyone forgot all about Morgan and his burnt ends. Instead, they were all rushing to the other side of the yard where a show unlike any other was taking place.

Ali was wantonly tossing cuts of seasoned meat into the air.

While he was tossing, Bianca would routinely catch the pieces of meat in the air with her telekinesis.

She would then hold them in suspension and produce balls of fire from her hands in the next breath.

The flames would cartoonishly dance around the floating meat, slowly cooking it to perfection as they entertained the crowd.

Morgan was a wreck.

Not only was Bianca controlling the heat to make sure that it actually penetrated the meat's dense fibers and provided an accelerated, but even cook.

She wasn't even burning the spices of the exterior! The control was remarkable!

To make matters even worse, there was crushed charcoal in her hands! She was ensuring that the meat would not lose its distinctive grilled flavor!

While admiring Bianca's talent, Morgan noticed Ali staring at him from across the yard.

A vain, agitating smile spread across the bearded man's face that stoked every drop of competitive spirit in Morgan's body.

"I see... so that's how it's going to be..!"

A flame engulfed Morgan's body and he vanished for a split second, returning with meat and bottles of spices not two seconds later.

"I wasn't the one to start this game, my friend..." (He was) "But now, I am certainly going to finish it!"

-

Away from the madness, Joanne placed Camille and Shiro on the ground so that they could move around freely.

"Alright, you two. Try to have fun, okay? We want you to play with the other kids, but you should also remember no fighting, alright?"

""Yes, mommy."" Both girls nodded along like complete and total angels.

"My sweet girls." Joanne smiled.

She kissed both girls on their cheeks before she sent them running off to play with the other kids.

"Yeah, what was I worried about?" She muttered to herself. "They'll be fine."

Satisfied, Joanne nodded to herself as she walked away and prepared to defend her finances from handsy old women for the rest of the day.