My job was like no other, I guess because Maco was the mastermind behind it all. One night he abruptly turned to me and said, “you need a job? meet me tomorrow at Marie’s”. Marie was the Haitian woman who owned the Copa Cabana bar as well as another bar on Nelson Street. When Maco told me to meet him at Marie’s I was more than a little taken aback. Everyone knew that the sleek and sophisticated ladies who came from Milan and other parts of Europe were housed over on Nelson street above Marie’s other establishment.<\/p>\n\n\n
I decided that Maco probably had a good reason for asking me to meet him on Nelson Street. When I arrived at Marie’s, Maco was waiting impatiently. ‘Come on up’ he called down to me from the balcony overlooking the street. I went up and he ushered me into a large sitting room with plush red carpeting and long white leather sofas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
There were two gorgeous, well-dressed women sitting on stools in front of a mirrored wall. They were applying makeup to their already perfect faces and chattering in a foreign language.\u00a0 They were both expensively dressed and apparently getting ready to go somewhere. I realized that Maco had disappeared through one of the doors and I sat down at the end of the nearest sofa and tried not to stare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Eventually, Maco returned with Marie in tow. Marie was a plump, pretty woman with a girlish voice who I had met once before. She wore a colorful headwrap and matching dress along with jangling bracelets on both arms.\u00a0 I stood up to greet her. “Hello, my dear,” she said reaching up to hug me, “thank you for coming.” She sat down on the sofa and patted the seat beside her indicating that I should also sit. I sat down and waited in silence for her to speak, she seemed to be looking at me rather intently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Can you cook?” Marie asked suddenly, I stared at her for a moment in confusion then I said: “yes I can cook”. She gave a girlish little laugh and clasped her hands together looking at me over her fingers. “I want you teach me to cook” she said in her own personal brand of English. “Can you do that?, you make list and I buy then\u00a0 you tell me how to do and I do like you say eh?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I sat there blankly for a bit then I caught myself, “of course! yes, I can do that”. She gave her little laugh again then patted my hand. “Good, good! so we start tomorrow eh? tomorrow I want to cook cake” she said excitedly…. And that’s how it all started. I thought her how to bake a cake the first day then how to make pastry the second. The pastry-making was actually a new experience for us both but I didn’t have the heart to tell her that!<\/p>\n\n\n