Friend: A Political Fable

Santa Nepenthe may just be the last unspoiled paradise in the Caribbean. With no source of fresh water beyond the daily tropical showers and no natural resources, who would want to bother with this island? The Souza family has ruled over the rock’s small population since pirate days and everyone seems quite happy with their simple existence, until Emmanuel Souza, the current Supreme Leader, decides to bring some modern improvements to Santa Nepenthe, like the Internet and a community of retirement condos for wealthy American snowbirds.Enter Margo Drelve, reporter for a daily New York newspaper. Margo sees Santa Nepenthe as the perfect place to go in order to write the Great American novel with no distractions or interruptions. On arriving at the island’s port city, Margo meets two of the islands entrepreneurs, a chap known as Sport, who runs the island’s only bar and Maynard Morais, who owns the island’s telephone exchange and its only taxi cab. And then there’s Alphonse Friend, a New Jersey gangster hiding on Santa Nepenthe from the IRS, who decides to challenge the Souza family’s long time rule with an eye toward building big hotels and casinos across the small island nation. What could possibly go wrong?