Chapter 13

Meeting the Guys

Ming then drove Marco to his house on Pearl Street in Cambridge.

"Ming, you see any reason I couldn't wear what I have on to the bar tonight?" Marco asked indicating his uniform.

"Yes I can Marco. My boss will be at the bar, and well, Federal Rescue personnel are not allowed to wear uniforms when they are drinking alcohol."

"Who all are we meeting there tonight?"

"Let's see Pat Rager, John Olson, they were with me when I had to rescue Chet, Brian Shaughnessy, Frank Damon, Ian Rafferty, Greg West, Skip Johnson, Carla O'Neill, Dave McDonald. "

"Big Crowd."

"Well, Pat and John work with me. Brian, Frank, and Ian are the crew for Federal 2, Greg is the boss, and Skip, Carla, and Dave are with Federal 11. Skip, Carla, and Dave were the ones to transport Julie to the hospital the night our daughter Katie was born."

About 5PM, they walked into the bar.

By this time Marco had a Mexican style shirt on over a pair of blue jeans.

Several people including a lone female were congregated in one area.

The female had a wine glass in her hand. Several of the guys had a tall glass with a dark liquid in it. The others had mugs with a more amber colored liquid in it.

"Ming, glad you could make it. Who is your friend?" the female asked.

"You really think I would skip Carla come on now. This is Marco Lopez with LA Station 51. What is that you are drinking Carla?"

"Chianti. Ming try and remember I am Italian after all having come over from Sicily when I was a toddler," Carla defended herself.

"Italian yet she married Deputy Chief O'Neill's son."

"Brian, if you can't handle the alcohol in your silly Guinness then don't take the time for another round," Carla complained. "Frank, Ian, I don't know how you handle him. Marco, you work with Irishmen much?"

"All the time Carla, My partner Chet Kelly is an Irishman."

"Let me finish my intros. You basically figured out who Carla is. She is the lead paramedic on Federal 11. Her #2, also, a paramedic is Skip Johnson. One of the amber colored beer drinkers. Their driver, one of the Guinness drinkers. is Dave McDonald.

"Then we have the crew of Federal 2. The Guinness drinkers on that crew are Brian Shaughnessy a.k.a. Big Mouth, and Ian Rafferty. Brian being a paramedic, and Ian a driver. Frank Damon, one of the amber colored beer drinkers is their EMT.

"Now for the important guys. My crew, neither of which are drinking Guinness, Pat Rager and John Olson."

"Ming, for the record those of us who are not drinking Guinness, except for me, are drinking Sam Adams Boston Lager," The only non-introduced member of the group said.

"Why Greg what did you choose?" Ming inquired.

"Ginger Ale. I have to go back to the Office after this. I'm Greg West the regional director for Eastern Massachusetts.

"So, Ming, Hoop Star One get off without a hitch?"

"That it did Greg. In fact, I met up with Marco at the airport. His partner is the guy we transported to Mass General after the Celtics Game from Faneuil Hall Marketplace."

"I was a little surprised to hear you had gone in on that call."

"Come on Greg we weren't that far from the scene besides they needed ambulances."

"Normally Olson you wait for dispatch to send you before you go in," Greg indicated.

"Unless you come across it in the normal course of duty like Ming did when the Hanson girl was injured a few years ago. Or that call you guys had two years ago when we had to get the jaws sent from Charlestown because of Rescue 16 being down."

"Greg, ease up. In their shoes you would have done the same thing," Skip pointed out.

Greg went silent for a few minutes.

Skip was getting real close to insubordination but he was a good man having just received his certification as a paramedic having served as Federal 11's EMT since the service had been formed years before. The one thing about Skip was he had a real head for administrative chores. Greg doubted Skip would be working the field for too long.

"So Marco, are you a paramedic out in LA?" Ian wondered.

"No I'm just a normal Firefighter. We do have Firefighter Paramedics assigned with us though. The ones Chet and I work with are Roy DeSoto who Ming partnered with briefly and John Gage."

"How did you handle working inside a burning building Ming?"

"Easy Dave I was lucky and managed to convince the Battalion Chief out there into letting me set up a Triage station. In other words I didn't go into any burning buildings. During my tenure I think we only had one burning structure but a couple good incidents. One dealt with a nine year old girl with a gash in her left leg."

"I hate calls like that. Thank God my husband and I don't have kids yet. How did you handle that one?"

"It was tough Carla, It made me think of my first rescue call way back when I was twelve. The victim was a nine year old girl with a badly injured left leg."

"It couldn't have been that bad Ming," Marco said.

"Marco, both girls even had the same name."

"You said, Chet, your partner is Irish. What is he like?"

"He is right proud of being Irish that's for sure Pat. Of course he is a bit of a clown. He would always pull tricks on John Gage one of the paramedics with our station. In fact Chet came to be known as The Phantom."

"Kind of like that Comic Strip Crime Fighter they call the Ghost Who Walks."

"Not exactly," Marco said being familiar with the Lee Falk Comic Strip. "Chet refers to himself as the phantom as a way of trying to cover up his zest for practical jokes."

"SO who is buying the next round?" Frank inquired.

"I will providing your bartender has Sangria behind the bar."

"I should be able to get you one. Just so you know Mr. Lopez Firefighters and Paramedics get their first drink on the house."

During that round Marco explained about Chet's adventures as it dealt with George Smith and his subsequent hospitalization for the better part of a year.

"Ouch, glad I wasn't in his boots," Carla muttered.

"I think we all are Carla," Greg summed up.