A hundred meters ahead was a long, low building with a tin roof. Its walls were of rough-sided lumber, and it had a porch at either end. A sign on the wall announced the place as Marshside Mama’s Restaurant and Bar. As we neared the building I reached into the cooler I carried and handed Patricia a couple of potatoes.

“Here,” I said. “These are for a friend of mine. His name is Ned. He’s a bit of a local eccentric here on the island. Potatoes are sort of a fetish of his, but I assure you, he’s completely harmless. The only thing I ask is that you don’t make fun of his teeth. They are in pretty bad shape, and he’s sensitive about the way they look. A dentist could probably help him, but he won’t leave the island to see one.”

Patricia took the potatoes from my hand and gave me a sharp look. “Kennesaw Tanner, what sort of unfeeling, uncaring person do you think I am, that I’d make fun of a poor—”

Just then, Ned emerged from his napping place on the porch. Patricia saw him from the corner of her eye and gave a short startled squeal as she leaped behind me and peeked from around my shoulder.

“What the hell is that!” she gasped.

“Ned!” I called. “Come here, old friend, I’ve got someone I’d like you to meet.”

Ned ambled forward and stopped just in front of us. He looked up expectantly with his deep-set, beady eyes, and as I reached down and scratched him on the head, he made a deep-throated, snuffling sound of greeting.

“Patricia,” I said, glancing over my shoulder. “Hand him a potato, he’s expecting it.”

Warily, Patricia eased herself halfway from behind me but came no farther and made no movement to meet Ned.

“He won’t bother you,” I said as I took the potato from her hand and presented it to Ned. “Here, buddy. It’s all yours. And we have several more where that came from.”

Ned gently took the potato in his mouth. He chewed with a great flashing of long yellow teeth and wet grunts of satisfaction. Closing his eyes in pleasure, a look of contented ecstasy came over his face. He quickly swallowed the last of the potato and then took a step forward, to rub the side of his head and neck appreciatively against my thigh. While I scratched him on the shoulders and under the jowls, he reached around and tenderly took the other potato from Patricia’s hand.