With her African Gray parrot Barley and her mutt Zeke, Elaine relishes island life and the surprises each day brings—both on and off the job. She is well aware that auctions have drama, but when an alligator crashes one of her auctions Elaine finds herself fodder for the local newspaper. Then there’s the local furniture restorer who dies suspiciously and the fire at a recently restored historic home. Drugs are uncovered at another auction, while tourists continue to ignore the undertow warnings at a local beach.

Elaine hasn’t thought about leaving this idyllic setting until Chay, a Londoner in his mid-sixties, offers her a lucrative business proposition. Elaine wonders if she can leave this tropical paradise and move to England. She remembers a friend telling her, “You take yourself with you wherever you go, you know.”

With her African Gray parrot Barley and her mutt Zeke, Elaine relishes island life and the surprises each day brings—both on and off the job. She is well aware that auctions have drama, but when an alligator crashes one of her auctions Elaine finds herself fodder for the local newspaper. Then there’s the local furniture restorer who dies suspiciously and the fire at a recently restored historic home. Drugs are uncovered at another auction, while tourists continue to ignore the undertow warnings at a local beach.

Elaine hasn’t thought about leaving this idyllic setting until Chay, a Londoner in his mid-sixties, offers her a lucrative business proposition. Elaine wonders if she can leave this tropical paradise and move to England. She remembers a friend telling her, “You take yourself with you wherever you go, you know.”

With her African Gray parrot Barley and her mutt Zeke, Elaine relishes island life and the surprises each day brings—both on and off the job. She is well aware that auctions have drama, but when an alligator crashes one of her auctions Elaine finds herself fodder for the local newspaper. Then there’s the local furniture restorer who dies suspiciously and the fire at a recently restored historic home. Drugs are uncovered at another auction, while tourists continue to ignore the undertow warnings at a local beach.

Elaine hasn’t thought about leaving this idyllic setting until Chay, a Londoner in his mid-sixties, offers her a lucrative business proposition. Elaine wonders if she can leave this tropical paradise and move to England. She remembers a friend telling her, “You take yourself with you wherever you go, you know.”

Set in and around a small town in modern-day Belize, Essence & Folly chronicles the lives of several poignant and comical residents from Santo Innocencio.

A humorous fishing story of revenge gone wrong entitled “Ole Gyal and Jackanapes” exposes some of the difficulties arising from the generation gap between a cantankerous Mayan grandmother and her “half-limey” grandson.

“The Voice over the Water” recounts Doña Elena’s days of interminable melancholy and loneliness following the death of her husband. Three months after her heartbreak, the widow finds herself at the edge of a cliff, confronting her own mortality.

“Don Gabriel Loco” is a madman serving out the final days of a twelve-year sentence for the botched execution of his ex-wife’s lover. While in jail, he records the colorful details of that bloody evening in a diary. Eventually, through deliberations with God, Shakespeare, and Diablo, he arrives at the decision that he must finish what he started—in six seconds flat—the moment he’s released.

Believing this is his best shot at a normal life, a lonely bachelor enlists the help of a mule to pursue the love and attention of his neighbor in “The Love Story of a Garbage Man.”

In “Leonid and the Mini-Commander,” a shopkeeper wonders whether his obsessions and compulsions are the result of prompts from a mini-commander hiding in a bunker lodged inside his head.

Set in and around a small town in modern-day Belize, Essence & Folly chronicles the lives of several poignant and comical residents from Santo Innocencio.

A humorous fishing story of revenge gone wrong entitled “Ole Gyal and Jackanapes” exposes some of the difficulties arising from the generation gap between a cantankerous Mayan grandmother and her “half-limey” grandson.

“The Voice over the Water” recounts Doña Elena’s days of interminable melancholy and loneliness following the death of her husband. Three months after her heartbreak, the widow finds herself at the edge of a cliff, confronting her own mortality.

“Don Gabriel Loco” is a madman serving out the final days of a twelve-year sentence for the botched execution of his ex-wife’s lover. While in jail, he records the colorful details of that bloody evening in a diary. Eventually, through deliberations with God, Shakespeare, and Diablo, he arrives at the decision that he must finish what he started—in six seconds flat—the moment he’s released.

Believing this is his best shot at a normal life, a lonely bachelor enlists the help of a mule to pursue the love and attention of his neighbor in “The Love Story of a Garbage Man.”

In “Leonid and the Mini-Commander,” a shopkeeper wonders whether his obsessions and compulsions are the result of prompts from a mini-commander hiding in a bunker lodged inside his head.