Archie and the Bush Princess

St. Maarten is a different kind of island. It calls itself 'The Friendly Island' and for many years, that was probably true. But some of the friendliness in recent years has turned to something else.

There are places where certain people go to get away from the past. Robbers Roost and small towns and communities in Arizona attracted a kind of person who was either an outlaw or drawn to outlaws. St. Maarten, an island that is half Dutch, half French, is such a place.

The island is loaded with wealth. Walk anywhere along the pier and you will see multi-million dollar yachts anchored there. They are docked behind ocean front restaurants like Peg Leg Pete's or Bamboo Bernie's.

While some of the yacht owners live in high-rise gated condominiums above the harbor, others stay on board their comfortable boats. Archie was one of those who lived on board.

How can I describe Archie? He was British with the most incredible accent. He was very fastidious about his appearance, always a gentleman around women, and one of the wildest gamblers I have ever met.

How wealthy Archie is, I never found out. All I know is that he is super-rich. He was that way when I first met him at the Atlantis Casino four years ago, and I suspect he is still that way now.

Archie was playing no-limit Texas hold'em that night. He had a stack of chips totaling around $5,000 in front of him and he was drinking a mixture of tequila and rum served to him by the most voluptuous cocktail waitress the Atlantis had available.

Mario was the poker room manager. Puerto Rican by birth, Mario was tall, handsome and a bachelor. Like Archie, he was mad about women and he made sure all the waitresses who served drinks in his poker room could have been centerfolds for a Caribbean version of PLAYBOY.

I sat down immediately to Archie's right. He was well 'into his cups,' as the British say, and looked delightfully roguish with his Dennis the Menace blond shock of hair and horn-rimmed glasses that gave him an owlish look.

'Raise,' he said without looking at his cards. He threw $20 into the pot.

I was mildly amused. The player to my left whispered, 'He's been doing that all night. Every hand. Doesn't look at his cards. Just makes the $20 raise.'

'Is he up or down?'

The man laughed. 'The bloke is unbelievably lucky. He's up over two thousand. Everybody's afraid to go after him.'

Needless to say, I waited for the proper cards and time, and I went after Archie. He loved it.

'Finally, a player,' he exclaimed in childish glee. 'Let's get it on.'

By evening's end, Archie and I were friends. I even let him buy me a mixed drink of tequila and rum -- it was like sipping lightening -- and I managed to win a few hundred from him. When the game broke up around 2 a.m., he invited me to his spacious yacht for a nightcap.

The vessel could sleep four and it even had a movie room where Archie could watch his favorite films under tropical stars. As we stepped aboard, a beautiful young girl in a sarong came out of the cabin.

'Beth!, he shouted. 'It's all right. I've brought a mate for a drink.'

He turned to me, smiling. 'She's got a gun,' he said. 'I gave it to her. Totally illegal on this island, of course. But one must protect one's property, mustn't one?'

Archie appeared to be in his 60s. Beth could not have been older than 22 or 23. We settled down into comfortable beach chairs on deck. Flying fish splashed in the surf. The night was everything you could expect in an island paradise.

He threw his arm around the girl when she served us our drinks.

'This is my bush princess,' he said proudly. 'I call her that because I met her in the bush where she lived. She even had a machete.'

'A big one,' she said, nodding. 'My father worked in the cane fields. He cut sugar cane with it until he died. He was a good man. Like Archie.' She kissed him on top of his head. 'A very good man. The only thing he left me was the machete.'

It turned out Archie was indeed a good man. He and Beth had been together for a long time by St. Maarten standards, nearly a year. He owned a home in Antigua and one in London.

'We're going to be married next year and Archie is going to send me to the university,' she said. 'Isn't that so, Archie?'

'It certainly is, Pet,' said Archie, squeezing her. 'But first tell him more about the machete.'

'Wellll,' she said impishly, drawing it out. 'When Archie and I started going together, he thought I was like all the other girls and treated me that way. He wasn't faithful. Isn't that right, Archie?'

'Absolutely correct, Pet,' Archie said, nodding emphatically. He drained his glass of tequila and rum and lit a cigar. 'I didn't know the meaning of being faithful until the night you caught me with another girl. Look at what she did, Mate,' he said proudly. He parted his hair on the left side of his head and showed me a three-inch scar.

'I didn't try to hit him hard,' said Beth. 'I just wanted to get his attention.'

Archie refilled his glass. 'To my bush princess,' he said, saluting her. 'Fearless and wonderfully fathful. Just like me.' He winked.

Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.

(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter. If you have a unique gambling story to share with him, you may qualify for a cash award. Send your story with all the details to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).