Charlotte poled the boat; her hefty arms working like pistons to propel the craft. The murky water resisted her advance like coagulated blood. A wet wool coat of heat smothered her. Moonlight broke through cypress branches, painting the sweat on her bare skin with a gory sheen.

A nearby splash told her a gator prowled along the shore.

When Charlotte had first come to Louisiana she'd been afraid of swamps and snakes and gators. Now it was home. She loved New Orleans, The Quarter, jazz, Jackson Square mornings with chicory coffee and benoit pastry.

She slapped at a mosquito. Going into the swamp with bare arms hadn't been smart but it was so damned hot. She wished Old Mam wasn't fond of midnight and full moons. It was the stuff of bad horror movies. Still, the old woman had a reputation for potions that worked.

Charlotte needed to believe Old Mam would help her. Something had to be done about that skinny blonde hussy who wanted her man. Old Mam would help her. Charlotte and Kenny had been together for three months and he was hers, even if he wasn't always as lonely as she was. She knew what was best for him, and right now it was her own chubby little body.

A scream fractured the shadowy dark, flat giving her the shivers. Pappy had always told her to watch out for panthers in Honey Island Swamp, but it was the monster that worried her. Stories claimed its smell was enough warning to let you get away, but why then, did so many people get eaten, she'd like to know?

She slid onto the sand, pulled the boat onto shore, tied up to the stake and clumped up the path to Old Mam's shack. She knocked. The door swung open. Wild azalea scents were replaced by the small of spicy, unidentifiable herbs. Dark inside, and silent.

Charlotte hesitated. Mam didn't have an open door policy.

"Don't stand there, invite haints in. Shut the door, this ain't no barn.

Charlotte obeyed.

Mam spoke. "You want me to help you keep your man white girl?"

A shadow in the corner of the room shifted, grew, and moved toward Charlotte.

Charlotte backed up a step and her hip struck a table. Glass rattled together, something tinkled.

"Keep on an' I won't have no potions!" Mam screamed. The shadow kept coming

Charlotte wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Sorry. Yes, I need help."

Mam spoke again, closer. "You really so weak you need Mam's juice to hold on to a man?"