October 28 was more celebrated than our wedding anniversary because of the strange circumstances that brought us together.
It was my sophomore year and a group of girls decided to go to the away football game in Kingston, Ontario. McGill lost, and the student union had rented a room in a Kingston hotel for the McGill fans to party after the gam, to celebrate or commiserate as the case might be.
My friend Marybel, a former roommate at Netherwood had a date, but another girl and I didn't, so we went with her as "blind dates". We were staying together in a nearby dormitory provided for visiting college students.
McGill lost.
Marybel was very tall and the other girl very short. The three of us walked in together and Robin, sitting with his friend Ted Alexnder on the bed (the room was small), said,
"I'll take the one in the middle".
This fact I learned later. Robin was 19, I was 17. He was a prankster and, with limited knowledge of chemistry, liked to make things that exploded. His father had died several weeks before. He had just recovered from mumps, and he and his girlfriend had broken up. On top of it he had a bad cold, and his brother, an aspiring doctor, had given him a new drug called antihistamine.
Robin had brought a flask of scotch, and poured some for me. The he went to the window, which overlooked a courtyard. He dropped something out of the window and there was a little explosion. No one seemed very impressed. He was by now getting a little fuzzy because the combination of scotch and antihistamine was affecting his brain. I suggested we go outside to get some fresh air. It didn't help much. I kept saying , "Robin Mackay do you want to go home, I'll call a taxi. "
He kept saying," The woman I marry is going to be a virgin!"
A taxi materialized and we got in, I directing the driver to my lodging, with some extra money to then take this besotted character to where ever he was staying. He could not remember where that was, so the taxi driver took him to a nearby hospital. He walked in, announcing,
"I'm not drunk," and passed out in the lobby.
His friends, Stan Grossman and Ted Alexander looked all over town and finally found him.
When I got home the next day my mother was quite agitated.
"Are you all right? Someone named Robin Mackay has been calling and calling."
""Oh, him," I said contemptuously, "Yes I'm fine, had a good time."
There was a place near the campus where students gathered to eat and mingle, called the McGill Student Union. I was walking by a table some weeks later and spotted Robin, chomping into a sandwich.
"Hello, Robin Mackay, " I said. He nearly choked on the sandwich.
He called me for a date the next weekend, and having just got rid of my last boyfriend, Peter Williams, (to Marybel) I accepted, since not other prospect came along.
This is a true story, which Robin and I would tell in all its gory details over the years, when the subject came up.
