Banana Republics

A convoluted series of bad choices forced a man into exile from his home in New Orleans. Some of that hinged on the woman he married, his four-year tour of duty with the U.S. Army during WWII, and his Sicilian heritage. This unforeseen destination to Guatemala in 1947 left him ill- prepared for the either the assignment, or the environment, or the cultural variance.In Banana Republics Frank Delucca's situation remained outside of the law, although for enough money into the hands of the right people, almost anything became possible this far south of the border. That was if Frank continued to walk the tightrope of expectations strung by ruthless and powerful mobsters.The chronology takes place eighteen years later, now in 1965, with Frank thus far surviving the hassles of running a multi-phase business among the hellish heat, the calamities of disrepair, and the aggravation of a contentious workforce. Set on an isolated stretch of a Caribbean beach, the resort he had been delegated to manage features a hotel, a restaurant, a barroom, a bordello, and a small fleet of fishing boats.Each of these separate enterprises operating as independent spheres by a cast of quirky supervisors, all having a storied past themselves. To say nothing of the revolving lineup of guests arriving with the anticipation of fun in the surf, sand, sun, and the prospective of intimate encounters. In a theater of the absurd revelation, Frank's average day contends with drunks, stoners, wayward wives, jealous husbands, belligerent locals, crooked cops, communist revolutionaries, tropical weather, contraband cargo, haunted dreams, and something new disintegrating, practically minute by minute. But then again, wasn't it always that way in the Banana Republics?