Grandmama’s presence was evident in my little office space.

“Since when has the swamp graduated to the status of OFFICE?”

That was her first communication. She hadn’t been around for awhile and I wondered what had kept her from benefiting me with her influence.

“Since the president came to my assistance!”

“The President?”

“Not that President.”

Explaining the term ‘president’ to Grandmama was not an easy task.

“Not that PRESIDENT. I wouldn’t depend on him to solve my problem. He is still struggling with his own problems.”

I left it there, knowing that anything having to do with politics was not Grandmama’s favorite subject. The swamp was. I would never be able to explain to her that working on pictures and doing some writing was the very reason that this computer and that office existed. To my way of thinking, being creative was synonymous with reigning supreme amid ordered clutter. But if the person who came to my rescue was aware of this ordered chaos, it did not stop her. She entered with a smile on her face. I did not know how to put my latest calamity into words.

“I tried to download the EZ antivirus program and I can’t find it.” That was as simple as I could put it. I did have the forethought of printing out all the information that came to the computer from the internet site via e-mail. The internet site informed me that the program had been placed on my computer, but if it was there, I certainly couldn’t find. I was at the point of tears of frustration. Funny how I can bring old photos back to brand-new without a problem; how I could write a book, create children’s stories, write poetry, create greeting cards and yet I couldn’t download a little thing like an anti-virus program I had purchased over the internet. By the time I placed my little SOS on Faye’s message machine, my computer was no longer computing for me. Nothing came up and nothing went down. I closed down the entire works and called it quits. My computer had become as infamous and unfriendly as that black hole in the center of the galaxy. When help arrived I felt no longer confident to turn on the computer. When that help turned out to be the president of ICON, my self esteem felt swallowed up by the swamp.

Madame President smiled patted me reassuringly on the shoulder and said:

“Everything is going to be just fine.”

She carefully perused the information on paper and looked for the internet address of the company that sold me the anti-virus protection. Mary’s calm and reassuring way had a positive influence on my brain and I remembered the e-mail that had arrived from the company. After that things sort of went rather quickly. Mary located a link that led to a phone number promising technical assistance. She actually found a living person, immediate access; no waiting for someone; no shuffling back and forth between numbers. A real person answered in English, so to speak. Madame President looked at me and I looked at her, but she just smiled. Neither one of us ventured a guess as to which country, India or China. The technical assistant was polite, ascertained himself as much as he could of the fact that the owner of the computer manned the control with the help of an assistant.

Madame President, Mary Phillips, went to work, keying in information and asking questions. She did it quietly but with a measure of self assurance that could win any battle. There was only one small momentary point of crisis.

“You ordered a firewall? You already have one!”

“That may present a problem!” offered the tech advisor of whatever country.

“Her DSL service comes with a firewall!” said Mary. Bell Tel didn’t tell me that. Yes and now there would be the question if the two could get along without fighting. I had just renewed the program I had had the last year or so, and there hadn’t been any disagreement in my computer land. As a matter of fact, the last disagreement was when Umax couldn’t find Irfanview. But that was long ago. The other hurdle was the download. Mary insisted that the protection included periodic downloads.

“I’m a pussycat when it comes to download. I suppose I was always made aware of the dangers of downloads.” Mary smiled.

“Trust me, this one is necessary.”

Strange, how a quiet, petite feminine person can accomplish the seemingly impossible without a disagreeable sound and with a soft but determined voice that could stop a tank dead in its track. By the time she closed down the entire procedure, got up and made ready to leave I felt my jangled nerves return to normal. This day had been a trying day. I had lost my nerve dealing over the internet. Worse than that, I had lost a long time friend who had quietly gone home to God. And yet, at the end of the day the computer problem was solved and El Presidente had become a friend. At least that’s the way I saw it; lose one friend and find another and friendship was all I had to offer.

“How can I ever repay you?” I said.

“A hug will do,” she responded.

After Mary left Grandmama made her presence known.

“Extraordinary person, your Madame President. I bet her office doesn’t look like a swamp!”

I requested a truce.

“I’ll clean up my swamp tomorrow, if you promise not to bring up that neatness routine again!” There was a definite silence in my little cubby-hole. Either the grand old dame consented, or she was miffed. If she was miffed I needed to apologize. But all of that would wait until tomorrow. I called it a day. My thoughts wandered back to Mary. Attractive, feminine, soft spoken with a pleasant smile on her lips, and blue eyes that gave little hint of steel-like strength beneath it all.

Mary! There is a lovely gardenia blooming on the gardenia tree in the backyard. It’s blooming there for you. I took a picture of it and I’m sending it to you. Thank you for being the person that you are!!!!