Open and Shut Case

     My computer presented a gray screen and then turned black—India ink black—and then the screen flickered, shimmied, and grew unresponsive. I turned it off, waited a few moments until it lost its petulant exterior and turned it back on. As if to punish me it grudgingly started and immediately turned to gray.
     So I did what any one would do— put my laptop in its case and headed over to the geek group at the Apple Store. An exceedingly helpful computer expert turned on the recalcitrant machine and it performed slower than ever and proceeded to prove that it was ill. A diagnostic test was run and something on the software was corrupted. At this time it appears as if the hardware is still chugging on.
     I’ll be returning next Thursday with Flannery, the name of my machine, with both Flannery and an external hard drive. According to the expert they’ll strip her of her innards and then reboot her. This entire project is fraught with angst.
      I asked if there was any other way  to get her up and running. No. A simple no. “ You’re fortunate,” the computer expert said, “ that this is a software problem and not a hard drive problem.” And I am thankful that my hardworking and congenial hard drive continues to power on.