The Computer Glitch

Page 2




continued from page 1...

"My friends have always asked me to join in on the fun on the week-ends, but I have refused to get involved." Brandy said out loud. Polly had been Brandy's best friend since kindergarten. "I'll do it! Mom always says when trying something new, there is nothing to lose and everything to gain." Brandy dialed Polly's phone number. "Hi! This is Brandy. Are you doing anything...the library? Sure I'd love to go. Are you sure your friends wouldn't mind if I tag along...Great! I'll wait outside."

Brandy whirled around and buzzed her chair out of the room with a triumphant look at the beast. "See, I do have friends." She entered the den where her parents were working.

"I'm going to the library with Polly and her friends. Is that OK?" Brandy asked.

Mom and Dad looked at Brandy in surprise. "Sure," Dad said. "Make sure you're home by six o'clock."

"Thanks, Dad. I'll be home for dinner." Brandy turned and whirred out the front door. Her stomach churned. What had she done? Would the other kids really want a kid in a wheelchair with them?

Brandy looked down the block and saw Polly and three other girls walking toward her. It was too late to change her mind now. She took a deep breath, waved and smiled as big a smile as she could.

Three hours later, a high spirited Brandy entered the front door. "Mom, Dad, I'm home. I promised Helen I'd print out the internet pictures of carnivorous plants I found. I'll be in my room."

Brandy buzzed down the hall and into her room. Her wheelchair came to an abrupt halt. The beast sat exactly where he had when Brandy left, smiling repulsively.

"You ARE real. Why didn't you just leave?" Brandy grumped.

"Power!" Glitch gloated.

"Power?" Maybe she could use Glitch's thirst for power to defeat him. "You know, Glitch, you are very handsome, in an eerie sort of way. I bet you'd make great wallpaper. Too bad you aren't virtual reality. You could go into the Internet through e-mail. Then you could glitch millions of systems rather than just mine. You really would be the worst virus. But you can just be a pest to one system, one single young girl. I guess you really aren't that powerful."

"I'd make great wallpaper," Glitch preened "I'd get on the Internet, travel all over the world and glitch millions of computers. The world! I could torment the world!"

"Bet you can't." Brandy said.

"Watch me. I'll leave your system running so you can see all the damage I do to others." The beast jumped down from the monitor and started spinning in a circle until his image was a blur. Suddenly, the beast's form disappeared and his picture appeared on Brandy's computer screen, grinning as usual.

Quickly, Brandy hit the print key. Just as quickly she clicked on her desktop setup and deleted the wallpaper. With a sigh of relief, Brandy returned to her desktop to find her regular wallpaper on the screen. A picture slid from her printer and the beast wore a horrendous frown. She could hear no sound, and Glitch didn't move. But could she be sure he was gone? Just for good measure, she put the picture through the shredder.

She did it! All by herself, she defeated Glitch. Dad was right; she was old enough to do things for herself. Brandy signed on to the internet. She remembered her promise to Helen. She would print out the pictures of carnivorous plants. The five girls had made plans to go to the park tomorrow. She could give the pictures to Helen then. Brandy promised herself that from now on she was going to try to join life rather than just daydream about it!

The End.