Way out East there was this fella — fella I wanna tell ya about. Fella by the name of Grayson Shepard. At least that was the handle his loving parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. Grayson Shepard, he called himself Grayson Shepard. Now, Grayson Shepard — he didn’t make a whole lot of sense. And a lot about where he lived, likewise.

But then again, maybe that’s why I found the place so darned interestin’. They call the Gulf of Mexico America’s Armpit. I didn’t find it to be that, exactly. But I’ll allow there are some strange smells there. ‘Course I can’t say I’ve seen London, and I ain’t never been to France. And I ain’t never seen no queen in her damned undies, so the feller says. But I’ll tell you what — after seeing London, and this here story I’m about to unfold, well, I guess I seen somethin’ every bit as stupefyin’ as you’d see in any of them other places. And mostly in English, too. So I can die with a smile on my face, without feelin’ like the good Lord gypped me.

Sometimes there’s a man — I won’t say a hero, ’cause, what’s a hero? But sometimes, there’s a man. And I’m talkin’ about Grayson Shepard. Sometimes, there’s a man, well, he’s the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that’s Grayson Shepard, in the Gulf of Mexico. And even if he is an angry man — and Grayson Shepard was most certainly that. Quite possibly the most angry man in the Gulf of Mexico, which would place it high in the runnin’ for being angriest worldwide. But sometimes there’s a man, sometimes, there’s a man. Aw. I lost my train of thought here. But — aw, hell; I’ve done introduced him enough.