From the moment Mac heard someone high on “Packaloulou” moan that he would do almost anything for a pizza he became a driven man. He had shown me equipment with which he planned to create a restaurant, two pizza ovens with the guts missing and a dough-mixer stand. He had salvaged these treasures from a bankrupted hotel that had never been finished at St. Hillare, and they had been under a tarp on “family hill” for a few years.
As far as I was concerned, the plan was “pie in the sky”. First of all, Mac would need to buy a piece of land and he had no money. Secondly, he would have to build the restaurant and he had no money. Thirdly, he would need equipment and he had no money. My list of negatives was long! I also thought that pizza was the wrong idea, a restaurateur needed to attract tourists and I was pretty sure they would want Caribbean food. Fish and lobster -yes! Pizza, no! Mac’s idea of putting lobster on top of the pizzas proved to me how obsessed he was.
Mac decided he would try to lease some waterfront property and set about trying to do so. He approached Mr. and Mrs. Keith at the Rum Dum Bar in Ocar and I tagged along with him. Mr. Keith was very ill and Mac figured they might be willing to lease the restaurant. Alas, the Keiths were in the process of leaving Bequia and someone else was taking over the Rum Dum. Mac next attempted to lease the Sunny Caribbee Beach Bar, the Hotel had closed but he figured he could at least try. That didn’t pan out either, and it looked like Mac was out of luck.
Mac finally went to see Papa Mitchie, his Uncle. Papa Mitchie (Uncle Cyril) owned a piece of property on the waterfront at Belmont right beside the Old Fig Tree, and he agreed to lease it to Mac. This meant that Mac (who had no money) would have to build his restaurant, which to me seemed very risky. It would cost a lot to build and equip a Pizzeria – to lease was one thing, to build was a different kettle of fish.
Uncle Cyril agreed to give Mac a ten-year lease, which at that time sounded like a lot of years! The rent would be $1,000 EC ($375.00 U.S.) per year which was a bargain. I didn’t know where Mac was going to find the money to build his Pizzeria but at least he would not be paying a steep rent for the location.
I was getting ready to go back to Canada for the summer, I had already organized a waitressing job. I would return in September in time for the beginning of the school term. Mac was already digging the foundation for his Pizzeria with the help of several friends. Klaus Alvermann, an architect and good friend, had drawn a plan for the building. Mac was determined to build his restaurant and I wondered how far he would get with his dream.
Just before I left for Canada Mac approached me and said, “Talk to your father, I’ll come up at the end of August and will marry you on September 1st.” It wasn’t the most romantic proposal in the world but it worked for me! I would be marrying a poor man with “pie in the sky” ideas, good thing I had a summer job lined up…….