When I'd just started college, one of my good friends professed to be a duke of Hell. In a "no, seriously" kind of way. What the heck, I figured. I wasn't done being a Christian at the time, which meant means I was supposed to buy the possibility of supernatural-type crap.

This was all back in the mid-1980s at the Georgia Institute of Technology, by the way -- an engineering school with an international reputation and a bastion of Science. I was seventeen.

An open mind is essential to a scientist. It's not so essential to a scientist who has fallen into the trap (in my opinion) of putting faith into, among other things, a) the possibility that science can explain everything, b) that there are basic laws that govern nature, and c) that the supernatural is either explainable in terms of science or it's crap.

As a scientist, I have to recognize that one of the basic tenets of science is that any framework of rules we currently use and trust can be proven worthless by a single unlucky example. We have to be ready to let go of anything and everything, possibly even the process of science itself, if a single valid counterexample presents itself. Thus, an open mind is required. Even if that means doing all of your dangerous thinking without a net.

In fact, the duke of Hell isn't really any part of this story -- except to show that certain unlikely things can flourish in any environment. To the best of my knowledge, he got a degree, spawned children, and was by the time I lost track of him gainfully employed by a multinational technology firm based in Germany.

Instead, this story is about a man who, not quite ten years after I left Georgia Tech, landed an appointment as a trial judge in the Philippines. I won't call his career particularly uneventful. It had events. And it was over, for all intents and purposes, in under nine months.

Around then, everyone with a job like mine was wrapped up in Y2K-proofing every piece of code we'd ever touched. If anything hit the news from the Philippines, I pretty much missed it. I remember Imelda Marcos and her shoe collection. A bit more locally, I remember Bill Clinton and his misplaced cigar.

Judge Florentino V. Floro, Jr., passed his bar exam with high grades. He passed an interview okay, didn't do so well with a psychological evaluation, got a second opinion that was allowed to overrule the first one, and took a seat on the bench. In eight months or so, he was suspended pending an investigation regarding a handful of irregularities. Blue robes, for instance, instead of black ones (except on Fridays, in order to recharge his psychic powers).

Before you shout "Looney!" recall the definition of pathology: It's not an illness or a disease unless it interferes with one's ability to work or study, with relationships with friends or family. Short of that, and it's just a quirk. A trait.

And if belief in psychic powers isn't quite your bag, suck it. A lot of people believe in psychic powers. It doesn't matter if it's bunkum. You can't go firing or imprisoning people because they have a belief you think is funny. Hell, there'd be maybe seven or eight of us incredulous skeptic bastards left outside the prisons, each trying our dead-level best to lock up the last six or seven.

Like I said, suck it. Judicial, congressional, and educational sessions are opened with prayers worldwide. Floro had a reading from the Bible he liked to include. He also claimed to have a God-given gift to heal people, which he exercised on breaks. And a few other things, all of which are very well documented, if you are interested in the gory details. Start here, if you feel like being thorough.

Anyway, he was suspended pending investigation. It was supposed to take around sixty days. Ninety max. Floro fought back, challenging the qualifications and impartiality of the investigators, challenging any questionable detail, and at the same time getting upset (and filing complaints accordingly) that things were taking so long.

A couple months short of seven years later, the Supreme Court of the Philippines issues a ruling on the thirteen charges and/or other points to be investigated for Floro's suspension. In the end they fine him forty thousand pesos (around $1,000 US), reimburse him three years of back pay (blaming him for dragging things out, so sticking him with responsibility for the other four years) and declare him unfit for judicial service due to his unsavory psychological quirks and apparent unwillingness to present a dignified image consistent with trial judges in the Philippines. Separated from service. Fired. More or less.

Consistency check: His beliefs interfered with his work. Therefore, according to the definition of pathology, he is ill. Except, say, if he had a job as an evangelist or a faith healer or some other kind of non-judge bureaucrat, at which point he would be sufficiently sane. In fact, the sixty-plus-page ruling I linked to above pretty much said that.

Is it possible to be conditionally ill, depending on your job? Given the definition of pathology, I'd have to say yes. For instance, I'd be nuts to be a linebacker for the New England Patriots. I'm 5'4" and less than a hundred and sixty pounds. Even if I were otherwise qualified, it would be clear evidence of a suicidal urge.

I haven't gotten to the elfs yet. Duendes, Elemental spirits of great power, the Red ones forever at war with the Blacks. Like ants here in Georgia. Except in the Philippines (and probably elsewhere) the Red ones are the good guys. Provisionally speaking.

Elfs appear to feature prominently in Floro's case. I'm assuming they're Catholic elfs, as Floro is himself devoutly Catholic. And before you say anything here, let me mention law, and Santeria, and how all the classic pagan deities and heroes of the British Isles ended up as Catholic saints. I've read the Bible in its entirety, even the slightly fatter Catholic one, and, let me tell you, a lot of popular proper nouns are missing. Among the missing names are Luis, Armand, and Angel -- the three duendes who have been an integral part of Floro's life since 1996 (although Angel didn't come along until 2006).

Floro's mildly retarded brother, who, according to Floro, retains enough innocence to experience the beings directly, introduced Floro to Luis back in 1984, around the time of death of their father. Floro himself experiences Luis as a nearly daily visitation of violet and white lights and, at least once each, as a "regal violet king" and as a chicken. Floro's compact with Luis et al grants Floro certain healing gifts, psychic powers, and the ability to bestow curses to punish the wicked and corrupt. (In particular the wicked and corrupt justices of the Philippine court system, which, indeed, have an international reputation for being quite wicked and corrupt.)

This is the part that attracted the attention of the international press, of course. According to the take on the story you'd get from just reading the headlines and no deeper, you'd discover that Floro was fired from his position because of his association with killer elfs. Those headlines were indeed what caught my eye. I commented about them (irreverently, as usual) in my blog. Floro himself responded. And, sensing with my own psychic powers a depth of story only hinted at by the headlines, I asked him for an interview. He said, in effect, bring it.

He's been interviewed a number of times before. I read those interviews over and set up a bunch of questions that I believed filled in some gaps from previous interviews. These are the questions I sent:

• What's the ideal outcome for your current situation with respect to your career, your family, and you daily life?
• What is your typical day like? To what extent do supernatural elements of any kind affect your average day, if at all?
• What was the best day of your life? What was the worst?
• If you had to choose to give up one of your goals or gifts, which one would it be and why?
• How would you describe your relationships with your brothers?
• Why did you drop the suits you had pending against those people you were accusing of trying to ruin your career? What made you decide to let them off the hook?
• Do you ever have disagreements with Luis, Armand, and Angel? Do they ever scare you?
• I have a big problem with punishing one's family for crimes one has committed. In modern days, it's permissible to choose your wife or husband, but children can in no way be responsible for the actions of their parents. You mention that some judicial official's child was born with epilepsy as punishment for something a parent has done to you. Where is the justice in that? And doesn't it imply that that your brother's mental disabilities might be punishment for something you or your parents might have done?

In response I received ... well, it's hard to describe what I received. When reformatted to single-spaced ten-point type, around ten pages. Later expanded to fifteen--and simultaneously filed with the Philippine Supreme Court, lightly seasoned with my own personal information harvested from various and sundry sites and what passes for my credentials. To be followed by a death announcement, a travelogue with some nice pictures, and previous versions of mailings reissued with expansions, illustrations, and attachments. All in good fun.

The question about "ideal outcome" was skipped, or else embedded elsewhere. In all, he seems willing to accept whatever horrors Luis drags him through as an acceptable substitute to "ideal."

Here's a portion of his response to the "typical day" question, lightly edited for style and grammar and shrunk like a new cotton t-shirt in a super-hot clothes dryer:

I've been jobless since July 20, 1999. I begged for compassion from the most powerful in our judicial, executive and legislative departments ... from all my classmates (Ateneo Law, Class of '82, including 2 incumbent Supreme Court Justices). I asked all of them to give me clemency, compassion, justice, kindness, and a job. But as Luis desired, I failed in my quests.

I've been financially helped by a kind brother (we are five) since last year and, in my most difficult times, just to survive. Luis would not permit me yet to have a job. He wanted me to suffer more. By bearing my cross, Luis would be able to infuse upon my mortal body the higher violet and white pure lights to fight evil or the black angels (fallen, the instruments of 666, in Revelations).

Two of my brothers are multimillionaires. (They have mansions in Valle Verde, Pasig City, Metro Manila, in Bulacan and in Greenhills; they are engaged in gold, diamond and foreign exchange trading; they have expensive cars - Mercedes, Volvo, Pajero, Nissan Durano, etc., and several security guards...) I have only rented a house since 1989. I walk and take the bus.

From April 7, 2006 until today, as I am unemployed, I wake up at 10 AM. I eat vegetables and fishes and sometimes meat. I sit in an Internet cafe from 12 Noon to 12 Midnight (with breaks, 8 to 10 PM to eat). I respond to a thousand blogs' comments, like yours and thousands of posts in 140 forums that reported my case based on more than a hundred international wire reports and front-page headlines. I am an established Wikipedia editor and contributor. Recently, I spent about 10 hours daily editing Wikipedia and creating articles.

I'm assuming the best day involved entering into his agreement with Luis. For worst days, he mentions three attacks on his life. I'm assuming ordinary muggings, as he doesn't mention suspected links to enemies in the courts system or elsewhere. In response to my question about gifts to give up, he says he basically has no choice in the matter and it's impossible to give any up, adding that his life would be worthless without Luis and the impact he has had.

Of his four brothers, two of them are wealthy, and at least one of those, I'm assuming, is his benefactor. His brother Robert is the mildly retarded one, and Floro has custody. There is another brother who apparently believes Floro should not have custody of Robert and has sued unsuccessfully to take Robert away. Their relationship is understandably somewhat cool.

Floro filed suits against a number of people who he believes acted with malice to try to get him fired from his job. He says his reason for dropping the suits was that he could forgive them somewhat for their fear and discomfort in working with him, and also the suits were about to be dismissed on technicalities anyway. It was an easy concession.

The final two questions generated a bit more in terms of response. I gather from Floro's words that Luis and company terrify him all the time. They ask him to perform horrible curses on the corrupt judges and justices -- former coworkers and associates -- and their families and spouses and children. He's refused a number of times and eventually was forced to compromise or give in completely. He sent me huge catalogs of material, documented in English and Tagalog (not that I can read Tagalog, but that's my problem, not his), detailing pretty much every horrible thing that has happened to judges and supreme court justices and their families, and claiming personal responsibility for deaths, illnesses, accidents, birth defects, and the occasional courthouse fire.

As you can see in my final question, I take issue with visiting divine retribution on innocent children and generations unborn and ask to hear his justification. His response is largely that it's always been done that way and gives numerous biblical references, paying particular attention to the 109th and 73rd Psalms, which are, indeed, quite grim.

That doesn't help me much; I've carried that same objection to God Himself, who offers absolutely no justifications for anything He does. God's Divine Finger of Holy Retribution is roughly ten miles wide at the tip and has all the fine motor control of an epileptic ape on an anthill.

God possibly thinks so, too. In the Old Testament, even before there were kings, His prophets set up the office of judges (with whole books dedicated to the phenomenon) and legal systems to help give attention to the fiddly details of human interactions and prescribe sentences, while still a tad harsh by modern Western standards, perhaps less overkill than worldwide flooding, plagues of frogs, killing all the firstborn males, and torrents of burning brimstone. And -- if you believe modern evangelists -- hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis.

It's my opinion that even a laughably corrupt judiciary is (albeit slightly) preferable to "a STAIN on his blood unto the FOURTH GENERATION," because at least with the former you can have hope of justice if you can raise enough money for the bribe.

My further opinion, Mr. Floro, is that Luis is bad news for you. He may have a tremendous plateful of holy work for you to do and bizarre and cool holy gifts with which to pay you, but you won't have a peaceful, normal life until you give him his walking papers. In your own words, "HIS WAYS ARE NOT OUR WAYS." I believe there's good reason for this. I also believe that the supernatural should be left to its own devices and that we humans should stick with what we're good at --discernment and fine manipulation with our tiny fingers. And justice on a human scale.

Anyone who wants copies of Floro's literal and lengthy responses can feel free to contact me. I will happily forward them along.