Google is not helpful. Of course, all I’ve got to go on is that he’s a paramedic named Mack who worked in Manhattan. Google mostly turns up a lot of links for EMT schools, and a few links for Mack trucks. The Internet is not going to get me what I want to know.
So I decide to call Mercy Hospital, where Victoria used to work.
They’ll probably know who he is.
As I’m dialing the number, I wonder exactly what I’m hoping to accomplish here. If I do find Mack, then what? Obviously, he loved her very much… but it’s been a long time since he confessed his feelings to her. He might have another girlfriend by now. He’s probably not still thinking about Victoria. And even if he is, would he still love her the way she is now?
But I get this feeling the man Victoria described in her diary would still love her like this. That’s what I believe anyway.
When I get through to the emergency room, an impatient sounding woman answers the phone. I can already tell this isn’t going to be easy. “Hello? Mercy Emergency Services.”
“Hi.” I squeeze the phone in my right hand. “I… I was wondering if you could help me…I’m trying to find an EMT…”
“From what company?”
“I… I’m not sure,” I stammer. “But his name is Mack.” “Last name?”
“I… I’m not sure.”
“Do you have a complaint about this EMT?”
“No, no,” I say quickly. I don’t want to get the poor guy in trouble. “But it’s imperative that I find him. It’s… well, it’s an emergency. I know he brings patients to your emergency room a lot, so I thought maybe you could help me get in touch with him…”
I hold my breath, bracing myself for the woman to hang up on me. But instead, she says, “And what did you say his first name is again?”
Oh my God, she’s going to help me. It’s a Thanksgiving miracle. “Mack.”
I have about two seconds to celebrate before the woman says, “There are no EMTs who come here by that name.”
“Are… are you sure?”
“Very sure. I’ve worked here for a year and I sign off when the patients come in from the ambulance.”
I want to ask her one more time if she’s sure, but it’s obvious she is. Nobody named Mack works there, at least for the last year. He may work somewhere else now. Maybe after Victoria left, he decided to leave too.
I’m not sure what else to do. I suppose I could start calling all the ambulance companies to try to track him down, but given I don’t even know his last name it seems like it might be difficult. It doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to find Mack for Victoria.
