Once upon a time, in a world of Wi-Fi and virtual classrooms, there lived a girl named Little Red Riding Hood. Everyone called her that because she always wore a bright red hoodie, even in summer. She was clever, quick-witted, and had the tech skills of a mini IT support agent.
One afternoon, Red’s mother called her over. “Little Red, your grandmother is having trouble getting into her book club Zoom meeting. Could you help her?”
“Of course, Mother,” Red said, feeling like a superhero about to save the day. Grandma was great at baking cookies but not so great at remembering passwords or clicking the right links.
Her mother handed her a laptop bag. “I packed some cookies for your grandmother. You can take them to her while you help.”
Red nodded, grabbed her bag (which also had a portable charger, because heroes never let their battery die), and set off on her journey to Grandma’s house.
As she walked through the neighborhood, her phone kept buzzing with emails from Mrs. Wolfington. Every few minutes, a new Zoom invite appeared in Grandma’s inbox, each with a different meeting ID, a different passcode, and sometimes even a completely different video conferencing platform. First it was Zoom, then Google Meet, then something called “VidYapNow” that Red was pretty sure was a scam.
“This is ridiculous,” Red muttered. “Why can’t Mrs. Wolfington just send one proper link?”
By the time Red reached Grandma’s house, she was more than ready to get to the bottom of things. She knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Worried, she let herself in and found Grandma sitting in front of her laptop, looking frazzled.
“Oh, Red, I’ve been trying to get into this meeting for an hour! Mrs. Wolfington keeps sending different links, and now my computer is making strange beeping noises.”
Red sighed and put down her bag. She took one look at the laptop screen and gasped. Dozens of open tabs, flashing error messages, and pop-ups offering “Exclusive VIP Book Club Access—Only $19.99!”
“This is worse than I thought,” Red said grimly. “Grandma, step away from the computer. I’m going in.”
Rolling up her sleeves, Red began closing pop-ups, uninstalling suspicious toolbars, and clearing out the chaos that had taken over Grandma’s browser.
She sent a quick message to Mrs. Wolfington:
“Please send ONE correct Zoom link and STOP clicking random buttons.”
A few moments later, a fresh email arrived. This time, it contained a single, correct Zoom link with a clear subject line: “Book Club Meeting – FINAL LINK”
Red copied the link and pasted it into Grandma’s browser. A moment later, the meeting loaded, and Grandma’s book club friends appeared on screen.
“Oh, Red, you’re my tech wizard! I don’t know what I would do without you,” Grandma said, beaming.
Red smiled. “Just be careful with links, Grandma. And maybe tell Mrs. Wolfington to take a tech literacy class.”
Grandma laughed. “I’ll try. Now, do you know how to turn on my camera?”
Red sighed with a smile. “One step at a time, Grandma. One step at a time.”
And so, Little Red Riding Hood saved the day—not from a wolf, but from the perils of the internet.
The End.
Discover more from Not Enough Bread
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Leave a Comment