Bingoed by Patricia Rockwell Page B

said.
    “Okay,” he laughed, “but almost anything can be a computer problem nowadays.”
    “Very well,” she said. “My . . . friend is trying to find someone, someone who doesn’t live here in town. They want to find out information about this . . . uh, person, but they don’t want to contact the person directly. They have a name and address but no phone number. Oh, and they have a photograph! I don’t know if that’s important or not.”
    “It could be,” suggested Ned. “And, Grandma, this is definitely a computer problem—one that probably has a fairly easy solution.”
    “Oh, good!” she responded with delight, thinking she had done the right thing by contacting her young grandson.
    “I would simply tell your friend to Google this person,” said Ned. “That should produce a search results page full of information—newspaper columns, online articles, and similar things about the person. Some of those things may have photographs so your friend can verify the photo they have with the photos online.”
    “How do I tell my friend to do this Google thing?” she asked.
    She could hear the gentle laughter over the phone line.
    “If your friend is computer-literate . . .”
    “I guess you mean if my friend uses a computer. He . . . I mean she doesn’t.”
    “You know, Grandma,” continued Ned, “I’ve been trying to get you to let me bring you a small laptop computer that you could use for photos and email and stuff . . .”
    “Thank you, Ned, but I really don’t need one of those things myself,” she explained. “I just need to know what to tell my friend to do to find out about this person.”
    “Would you like me to come over there to Happy Haven and help your friend with an online search? I could come over later this afternoon.”
    “No, no!” she interjected. “My friend is . . . uh . . . sort of shy. Uh, she wouldn’t like that. Let’s just stick with this Google thing.”
    “You can have her do that on one of those two old clunkers they have in the family room at Happy Haven,” he continued.
    “I’ve never used those things, Ned,” she said, cringing.
    “I know, Grandma,” he replied, and Essie could hear a little bit of a scolding coming on.
    “Can you tell me what to do? So I can show my friend?”
    “All right. Maybe you should write this down.”
    “No, no. I’ll remember. Just tell me how to do the Google.”
    “Okay, first make sure the computer is turned on. Can you do that? Then, sign on to the Internet.”
    “How do I do that?”
    “Grandma, you’d better let me come over and help you.”
    “I’ll figure it out. Go on.”
    “Maybe someone there who actually uses the computers can help. Anyway, once you’re on the Internet, you type in ‘Google’ which will take you to the Google home page. Here you will see a search box.”
    “A box,” she replied. “I’ve got it.”
    “Just type in the person’s name in the search box along with whatever other information you have like address and home town. Then hit ‘enter’ and you’ll see a long list of items. If you click your mouse on each of these items, it will bring up pages about this person.”
    “These items are about the person?” she asked.
    “Yes,” he said, “some of the items may be newspaper articles about the person. They may be related to social or business aspects of the person’s life.”
    “That’s great! That’s just what I . . . I mean, what my friend needs!”
    “But, Grandma,” cautioned Ned, “if you have any problems doing any of this, I would be more than happy to drop by your place and help you or set you up with your own unit.”
    “No thanks, Ned. I think I understand. Google, search box, click item with mouse. Thank you. Bye!”
    “Uh, bye, Grandma.”
    Essie gently placed the receiver back in its cradle. Grabbing a pad of paper and a pencil, she quickly jotted down what she remembered of Ned’s directions. She really didn’t understand any of what he’d said