Felo’s predicament

I’ve known Felo all my life and know that basically he is a decent chap. As a boy Felo used to help his father, a bricklayer, who spent at least 4 months every other year maintaining our old mansion. A timid boy, Felo would rather carry out the chores his father ordered him to – which he did very conscientiously – than take the initiative. 
As I said earlier, a good chap, but he too became a victim of the drugs epidemic. It happened as follows.
Felo got married at the relatively “old” age of 45 with a girl from the Dominican Republic, who had been in Curaçao practically all her life. The difference in age was rather big, but Flor was a sensible woman, whose work ethic and decency had earned her a good reputation, even with her neighbours, who did not care much for “those San Doms”, as they were ‘nicknamed’ in Curaçao. Even they, however, had to admit that Felo could have made a worse choice. 
The problems began when Flor surprised Felo with 2 children to whom she’d given birth when she was in her teens. The kids had grown up with Flor’s mother all those years and Flor had kept quiet about this, fearing that she would not get the work permit from the immigration officials. She was lucky that Felo had managed to convince the immigration department that he would take care of these kids. 
Felo insisted that the children, aged 16 and 17, should go to school to learn something to earn their living, because he was not prepared to pay for their keep longer than 3 years. 
Unfortunately, the kids were not as hardworking as their mother, and they soon ran into trouble. One thing led to another, and one day one of them was sent home from school, because he had tried to sell drugs. Felo found work for him with a gardener whom he knew, and hoped for the best. But the younger one was even worse. He was more intelligent and sought ways to make money. He would rather take risks than work as an unskilled gardener like his brother. He became the organizer for a lucrative “bolita” outfit. (An organization that deals in drugs).
When Flor’s mother was taken ill, after she had returned to her island of birth, Flor decided to go to Santo Domingo to look after her. Her younger son gave her a package containing auto parts for a friend of his. When Flor arrived in her country she was arrested by the customs because she was carrying 2 kilos of coke in the package her son had given her. She was thrown in jail and Felo didn’t hear anything, until Flor’s mother called and told him what had happened to Flor. When Felo heard all this, he decided to inform the local authorities about the younger son whom he suspected of having had a hand in Flor being arrested for drugs smuggling. When the police finally arrested the whole gang, Felo asked the authorities to extradite the younger son to Santo Domingo to stand trial. Being sent back to his country, Felo declared he was no longer responsible for him, nor for his older brother, whom he also suspected of having been involved, as Felo refused to believe that he didn’t know anything about his younger brother’s involvement in the drug business. He too was sent back to his home country.
Although this behaviour of her sons was a terrible disappointment for Flor, she was relieved that Felo had solved the problem and that he still accepted her as his wife.

Joseph ‘Jopi’ Hart