Bagley, Desmond - Bahama Crisis Read online

  I drove them through Freeport on my way to the Royal Palm Hotel. I was proud of the Royal Palm; for my money it was the best hotel in the Bahamas. Of course, it had been my money that had built it, and I was looking forward to seeing Billy's reaction. On the way I said, "Is this your first time in the Bahamas, Debbie?"

  "Yes."

  "Mine, too," said Billy. That surprised me, and I said so.

  "Just never gotten around to it." He twisted in his seat.

  "Which way is Freeport?"

  "Right here. You're in downtown Freeport." He grunted in surprise, and I knew why. The spacious streets, lawns and widely separated low-slung buildings were like no other city centre he had seen.

  "It shows what you can do when you build a city from scr atch. Twenty years ago this was all scrubland."

  "Oh, look!" said Debbie.

  "Isn't that a London bus?"

  I laughed.

  "The genuine article. There seems to be a mystique about those all over the English-speaking world I've seen them at Niagara, too. I think the London Transport Board makes quite a profit out of selling junk buses as farming tourist attractions."

  In the foyer of the Royal Palm Billy looked around with an experienced eye. The Cunningham Corporation ran its own hotels and knew how they ticked. He glanced upwards and gave a long, slow whistle. The foyer rose the entire height of the hotel, a clear eight storeys with the bedrooms circling it on mezzanines.

  "Wow!" he said.

  "Isn't that a lot of wasted space?"

  I smiled; even the Cunninghams had a lot to learn.

  "It might be in a city hotel, but this is a resort hotel. There's a difference."

  Jack Fletcher, the hotel manager, was standing by and I introduced him to the Cunninghams. He booked them in with as few formalities as possible, then said, "Here are your room keys Mr. Cunningham, Miss Cunningham." He gave Billy another key.

  "Your car's in the garage."

  I said, "Find another car for Miss Cunningham; she might like to do some sightseeing by herself " Hey! " said Billy.

  "No need for that."

  I shrugged.

  "No sweat; we run a car hire company and the season hasn't topped out yet. We have a few cars spare."

  He took me by the elbow and led me to one side.

  "I'd like to talk with you as soon as possible."

  "You always were in a hurry."

  "Why not? I get things done that way. Say, fifteen minutes?"

  "I'll be in the bar." He nodded in satisfaction.

  He was down in ten minutes and strode into the bar at a quick clip.

  After ordering him a drink I said, "Where's Debbie?"

  Billy smiled crookedly.

  "You know women; she'll take a while to prettify herself." He accepted the bourbon on the rocks.

  "Thanks."

  "Your room all right?"

  "Fine." He frowned.

  "But I still say you're wasting a hell of a lot of space."

  "You're thinking in terms of city downtown hotels. Space is cheap here and the clientele is different." I decided to push.

  "What are you here for. Billy? You mentioned a proposition."

  "Well, we have a few dollars going spare and we're looking for somewhere to invest. What's your idea of the future of the Bahamas?"

  "My God, Billy, but you have a nerve! You want to come in here as a competitor and you're asking my advice?"

  He laughed.

  "You won't lose out on it. You've already said a couple of things that have set me thinking. We think we know how to run hotels back home, but it might be different here. Maybe we could set up a partnership of sorts and use your local expertise."

  "A consortium?" He nodded, and I said contemplatively, "A few dollars. How few would they be?"

  "About forty million few."

  The bartender was standing close by, polishing an already over-polished glass. I said, "Let's go and sit at that corner table."

  We took our drinks and sat down.

  "I think the future of the Bahamas is pretty good. Do you know much of our recent history?"

  "I've done my homework." He gave me a swift and concise resume.

  I nodded.

  "That's about it. You Americans are now coming to the realization that Pindling isn't an ogre and that he runs a fairly stable and conservative government. He's safe. Now, let's come to your hotels and the way you run them. Your clientele consists of businessmen and oil men, fast on their feet and on the move. They want fast service and good service, and they're here today and gone tomorrow. Because your land values in the city are so enormous you pack them in tight and charge them the earth because you have to. If you didn't the operation wouldn't pay; it would be more profitable to sell up and move into some other business. Have I got it right?"

  "Just about. Those guys can pay, anyway; we don't get many complaints."

  I waved my arm.

  "What do you think of this place?"

  "Very luxurious."

  I smiled.

  "It's intended to look that way; I'm glad you think it succeeds. Look, Billy; your average tourist here isn't a jet- setter and he doesn't have all that many dollars to spend. He's a man and his wife, and maybe his kids, from Cleveland, Ohio. Perhaps he's done one trip to Europe, but he can't go again because Europe is too damned expensive these days and the dollar is bloody weak. So he comes here because he's going foreign and economizing at the same time. Big deal."

  "What about the Europeans? Lots of those about here." Billy jerked his thumb towards the lobby.

  "Out there I heard German, French and Spanish."

  "The Spanish would be coming from the Argentine," I said.

  "We get lots of those. They, and the Europeans, come for the same reason because it's cheaper here. But they don't come first class or even tourist. They come on charter flights in package deals organized by the travel agents mostly German and Swiss. Neither the Americans nor the Europeans, with few exceptions, have a lot of money to throw around. So how do we handle the operation?"

  "You tell me."

  "Okay." I spread my hands.

  "We give them the semblance of luxury stuff they can't get at home. Palm trees are cheap to buy, easy to plant and-grow quickly; and you don't get many of those in Cleveland or Hamburg. And they look damned good. We have a few bars dotted about the place; one on the beach, one by the pool, a couple inside.

  We hire a local guitarist and a singer to give the live mood music Bahamian and Caribbean calypso stuff very romantic. We have a discotheque. We have a place to serve junk food and another for gourmet dining both are equally profitable. We have shops in the lobby; jewellery, clothing, local handicrafts, a news-stand and so on. So far those have been concessions, but now we're tending to operate them ourselves; I've just started a merchandising division.

  And, as I said, we run a car hire outfit; that's part oi the tours division. On the beach we have a few sailboats and wind-surfing boards, and we hire a beach burn to act as life-guard and to show the clients how to use the stuff. That's free.

  So are the teriteis courts. There's also use of an eighteen-hole golf course for a concessionary fee. There's a marina linked to the hotel so we also pull in the boating crowd. "

  "It seems a customer can get most of what he wants on his vacation without ever leaving the hotel," Billy hazarded "That's it," I said.

  "That's why they're called resort hotels. But what we don't have in the lobby is a liquor store; if a tourist wants his booze he pays bar prices. We want to squeeze as many dollars and cents out of these people as we can while they're in our tender care.

  And they are in our care, you know;

  they have a good time and they're not cold-decked. We have a creche and a children's playground that's more to keep the kids out of people's hair than for anything else and we have a doctor and a nurse. And there's no drill or razzmatazz they're just left alone to do as they please which seems to be mostly roasting in the sun. "

/>   Billy grimaced.

  "Not the kind of vacation I'd fancy."

  "Neither would I, but we're not tourists. So what happens when our man goes home?

  His friends look at that deep tan and ask him about it.

  "Gee!" he says.

  "I had the greatest time. Free sail boating free tennis, cheap golf on the most superb course you can imagine. It was marvelous."

  Then he does a hip shimmy around the office.

  "And, gee, that calypso beat!" That's what he tells his friends when the snow is two feet deep in the street outside the office, and they like the idea, so they come, too. Maybe the year after. "

  Billy mused.

  "Fast turnover and small margins."

  "That's the name of the game," I said.

  "That's why room occupancy is critical; we keep filled up or go broke."

  "Any trouble in that direction?" I smiled.

  "We're doing just fine," I said lightly. He grunted.

  "I'd like to see your profit and loss account and your balance sheet."

  "If you come up with a firm offer I might give you a quick look." I thought for a moment.

  "I'll introduce you to a few- people and you can get a feel of the place. David Butler is a good man to talk to; he's top man in the Ministry of Tourism here on Grand Bahama." I hesitated.

  "There might be a problem there."

  "What problem?"

  "Well, you're a southerner. Would you have any problem dealing with a black on equal terms?"

  "Not me," said Billy.

  "Billy One might, and Jack certainly would; but they won't be involved out here." Billy One was Billy's father, so called to distinguish him from Billy. Jack was his uncle and head of the Cunningham clan.

  "Is this guy, Butler, black?"

  "He is. There's another thing. Any hotels you build here must be Bahamian-built and Bahamian-staffed."

  "The Bahamas for the Bahamians is that it?"

  "Something like that. No one else can hold down a job here if it can be done by a Bahamian."

  Billy jerked his head towards the lobby.

  "Your hotel manager Fletcher; he's white."

  "So am I," I said evenly.

  "We're both white Bahamians. But the manager of the Sea Gardens that's our hotel on New Providence is black."

  Billy shrugged.

  "It doesn't worry me as long as we have an efficient operation."

  "Oh, we're efficient." I looked up and saw Debbie Cunningham coming into the bar.

  "Here's your cousin."

  She was wearing a halter top and a pair of shorts which were well named a long-stemmed American beauty.

  "I hope this is okay," she said, and looked down at herself.

  "I mean, do you have rules?"

  "Not so as you'd notice. Our visitors can dress pretty much as they like up to a point." I inspected her.

  "I don't think you've reached the point ye t, though. Will you have a drink?"

  "Something soft; a Coke, maybe." I signalled a waiter and she sat down.

  "Isn't this quite a place? Have you seen the pool, Billy?"

  "Not yet."

  I checked the time.

  "I'm going to be busy for the next hour. Why don't you give the place the once-over lightly and I'll meet you at the desk. We'll have lunch at home. If you need to know anything ask Jack Fletcher* " That's fine," said Billy.

  "You've told me enough already so I know what to look for."

  I left them and went to my office to do some hard thinking. When Billy had told me the size of his proposed investment it had given me quite a jolt, although I had tried not to show it. Forty million dollars is a hell of a lot of money and that much injected into West End Securities could provide for a lot of expansion. The problem would be to avoid being swamped by it, and it was going to be quite a puzzle to put together a suitable package which would keep both me and the Cunningham Corporation happy.

  If Billy had been surprised by the Royal Palm Hotel he was equally surprised by my home and he showed it. I took him through into the atrium where the swimming pool was. He looked around and said, "My God!"

  I laughed.

  "Ever been in Rome in August?"

  "Who goes to Rome in August?" He shrugged.

  "But yes, I have -once," and added feelingly, "Goddamn hot. I got out of there fast."

  "And humid -just like here. When I built this place I had an architect dig into the plans of Roman villas; the ancient Romans, I mean. I had a feeling they'd be building for the climate. This is not a reproduction of a villa more an adaptation. With modern conveniences, of course; air- conditioning included. But my air-conditioning costs less to run than any of my neighbours' because the building design helps. We used some of that know-how when we built the Royal Palm; that big, tall lobby is a natural cooling tower."

  Billy was about to say something when Julie walked out of the house. I said, "Here's Julie now. Julie you've met Billy, but I don't think you know Debbie, his cousin."

  "Hi, Billy, welcome to Grand Bahama. Glad to meet you, Debbie."

  "You have a beautiful home," said Debbie.

  "We like to think so. " Julie turned and called, "Come out of there, Sue. We have guests; come and meet them."

  My elder daughter emerged from the pool as sinuously as an otter.

  "Say " hello" to Mr. Cunningham," commanded Julie.

  "To Billy," I amended.

  Sue shook hands gravely. She had an impish look as she said, "Hello, Mr. Billy Cunningham."

  Billy laughed.

  "A regular little towhead, aren't you?"

  "And this is Debbie." Sue curtsied, something that would have looked better done in a crinoline instead of a minimal bathing suit.

  "How old are you, Sue?" asked Debbie.

  "Eleven years, two months, three weeks and six days," said Sue promptly.

  "You swim very well," said Debbie.

  "I bet you swim better than I can."

  Julie looked pleased Debbie had said exactly the right thing.

  "Yes, she swims well. She came second in the Marathon in her class."

  I said, "It's a two-mile course in the open sea."

  Debbie was visibly startled and looked at my daughter with new respect.

  "That's really something; I doubt if I can swim a quarter-mile."

  "Oh, it's nothing," said Sue airily.

  "All right, fish," I said.

  "Back into your natural element." I turned to Julie.

  "Where's Karen?"

  "She's running a temperature. I put her to bed."

  "Nothing serious?"

  "Oh, no. " Julie looked at Debbie.

  "She's been having school problems and might even be faking it Come and see her; it might buck her up."

  The women went into the house, and I said to Billy, "I think drinks are indicated."

  "Yeah, something long and cold."

  "A rum punch, but easy on the rum." As I mixed the drinks I said, "Air-conditioning in hotels is important if we're to have a year-round season. We don't want the tourists frying even if it is good for the bar trade."

  Billy took off his jacket and sat in a recliner.

  "You forget I'm a Texan. Ever been in Houston during the summer? You know what Sherman said about Texas?" I shook my head.

  "He said, " If I owned Hell and Texas, I'd rent out Texas and live in Hell. "

  I laughed.

  "Then you'll see the problems, although we're not as bad as Texas. There's always a sea breeze to cut the heat."

  We chatted while Luke Bailey, my general factotum, laid the table for lunch. Presently the women came back and accepted cold drinks.

  "You have two very nice girls," said Debbie.

  "Julie must take the praise for that," I said.

  "I get any of the blame that's going."

  Talk became general over lunch and I was pleased to see that Julie and Debbie got on well together. If the womenfolk of business associates are bitchy it can up
set things all round, and I have known several sweet deals fall down because of that.

  At one point Julie said, "You know Mom and Pop are coming for Christmas."

  "Yes." It was an arrangement that had been made earlier in the year "I thought I'd do my Christmas shopping in Miami and meet them there."

  I said, "Why don't you give them a sea trip? Take Lucayan Girl and bring them back by way of Bimini I'm sure they'd enjoy it."

  She said, "It's a good idea. Would you come?"

  "Afraid not, I'll be too busy. But I'll have a word with Pete;

  he'll need an extra hand for that trip. "

  "Still a good idea," said Julie meditatively.

  "I think I'll take Sue - and Karen, if she's better."

  "Take me where?" Sue had joined us draped in a towel. She helped herself to ice-cream.

  "How would you like to go to Miami to meet Grandma and Grandpop? We'd be going in the Girl' Ice-cream went flying ai^^ squeal of delight was an adequate answer.

  After lunch Julie took Sue ^ ^ ^ool ^ Tibbie went along because Julie said sheA^ ^ow her the International Bazaar where you can wal^^ pA^ ^ china in one stride When they had gone^n ^ ^^ big is your boat? "

  Tiny-two feet Come and iA at her. "

  His eyebrows lifted.

  "You^e her here^' " Sure. This way. " I led hi^^ ^ ^e house to the lagoon on the other side where f ^ ^ ^ored at the quay side Pete Albury was o, board and when he heard us talking he appeared on de^, Acme and meet Pete," I said. He s skipper, but sometime ^ ^inks he's the owner. "

  Tom I heard that, callA y ^is face cracking into a seamed black grin.

  But I'll ^ ^ board anyway. "

  We went aboard.

  "Pete. ^ ^ Billy Cunningham, an old tn end from the States.

  Pete stuck out his hA . ^^ ^ ^now you, Mr. Gunningham.

  I was watching Billy caref^ ^ Aid not know it, but this was a minor test; if he had h^ed, even fractionally, in spite of what he had said I would^ ^ been worried because no one who is a nigger-hater, ey^ ^ a minor way, can get along successfully in the Bahamas. ^ ^ Pete's hand firmly. Glad to know you, Mr. . . e - ' "Albury," said Pete.

  "But ^' p , " I'm Billy. " w]u I said.

  "Julie wants to go ^ ^iami next week to do the Christmas shopping and toer parents. She'll be _akmg Sue and maybe Ka^ Ad ^ be touching in at Bimmi on the way home. Is ^^rything okay for that?"