Well groomed and wearing a casual dress shirt and nice slacks, the man sauntered between the restaurant tables and stopped at Alan and Ben's. They looked up from their crushed herb salmon and chicken fettuccini alfredo, respectively. He clasped his hands together. "I'm Joey. How're we doing here tonight? Everything to your liking?" "Oh, it's great," Ben said. Alan nodded, his mouth full of salmon. "Thanks," Ben said.

The man gave them a brilliant smile, a good tooth shining in the restaurant's muted lighting. "That's wonderful. Anything else we can get for you?"

Alan and Ben looked at each other, then slowly shook their heads. "No, thanks," Ben said.

"My pleasure to see people having a good time here." Joey clapped each of them on the shoulder. "Tell you what," he said, "let me get each of you a drink on the house. I'll tell your server, you just order it next time he comes by." They thanked him, and with another bright smile, he wandered on.

When the bill came, Ben called over their server. "Joey stopped by," he said, "and put our last couple drinks on the house. He said he'd tell you."

"Who's Joey?" asked the server.