ENSHROUDED

Prologue

ALK Barber Shop was the best in Villamonte, if not, in the whole Bacolod City.

The shop, located at the ground floor of Mariposa Building, could have a total of 70 costumers a day, maximum of a hundred. It was owned by Mr. Condrado Gonzaga, an ex-marine, who began the business in the late 80s. From wooden chairs, cemented floor, and webby ceiling fans, the shop evolved to a modernized one with high-tech seats purchased from Taiwan, tiled floors, and Kelvinators for ventilation.

“It’s not the atmosphere…it’s more than that…” a customer once commented. “I feel relaxed as I talk to the barbers. They’re nice and accommodating.”

That may be the result of how Mr. Gonzaga dealt with his workers. When he’s kind with his barbers, the barbers were also kind with the costumers.

For the past twenty years, many barbers had worked with ALK. Mostly men, since there were a couple of menopausal women who once applied to cut. Mr. Gonzaga was kind with his employees, giving them their salaries on time and, if the business all throughout the year wasn’t that bad, he gave Christmas bonuses. The only reason why barbers would leave the shop was aging. Some died, some retired, some settled with their families.

The year was 2006 and ALK had six barbers. Of the five pioneer barbers hired by Mr. Gonzaga when ALK was but an ugly structure at Mariposa Building, only one was left in the shop still working: Ferdinand. He was in his mid-60s, a fat man with hair the color of ash, and smoked 20 sticks of cigarettes per day. He was Mr. Gonzaga’s asset in the shop, being an expert at different male hairstyles. Employee he was but the employer gave him much respect.

Voltaire, 32 years old, cut the best barber’s cut among the six. He had been with the shop for four years. At first glance, one would recognize the enormous protrusion of his abdomen.

Ben, 30 years old, was the joker. He loved to wear black and he usually went to work with swollen eyebags. His expertise was semi-kalbo, as he was the favorite barber of ALK’s costumers aged five and below.

Cesar, 26 years old, was cocky. Ben called him ‘Tisoy’ while Voltaire called him ‘Macho Papa’. Yes, he was good-looking. But then his vanity was beyond limits. He wouldn’t leave the mirror until he fixes a hair strand which is out of place on his heavily-gelled coiffure.

Jimmy, 25 years old, could have the most number of costumers for a day, competing with Ferdinand. A thin man with a colored hair, he was at times teased by his fellow barbers as gay. He moved feminine and he had the neatest cubicle in the shop. He would just laugh though when being teased. He knew himself more that any of his friends.

Youngest of the six was Bong, 21 years old, who was a college dropout. He was often mocked by his costumers after noticing that their girlfriends were flirting with him. Well, who could blame the girls? Bong was a Pinoy version of Justin Timberlake.

Chit, the only woman at work in the barber shop, however, was not a barber. Mr. Gonzaga hired her to be the receptionist, cashier, and overall janitress.

ALK would open at 8 in the morning. As the sun rose into the zenith and until the door said ‘closed’, the unceasing sounds of scissors and electric razors were the only music inside the famous barber shop.