Ax To Grind

The family then sat down for breakfast to enjoy some steak with half boiled eggs and saucer kraut.
All the while he couldn't get the app out of his mind.

After having the breakfast, he quickly went to John Smithers, or Uncle John, who lived just 3 houses down. He used to be a computer guy in some firm and now is simply doing ranching.

"Hey John", Old Paul said, "you mind my dropping in at this time?"

John was in his garage, fixing the wipers of his '59 Chevy.

"Nah Paul, it's all fine. Come'on in."

"Can you take a look at this new app in my phone. I don't know it just appeared out of nowhere. In the morning I opened the phone and it was just sitting right there. Now I can't open it, or delete it. Boys said that it might be a virus and the phone needs cleaning, so Uncle John is the guy!"

"Well, it's not a big issue. Lemme hook this up to my computer and your phone will be ready as new. Come on in, have a beer or two while I just do my thing. It'll be just five minutes tops."

"I don't see a reason to decline a good pint of beer."

They went in.
John handed Old Paul a beer and went to his room to fix up the phone.

Old Paul liked the beer. It was something new, some new flavor he hadn't tasted in his life. It had a kind of smoky flavor to it, yet being subtle and fruity in taste.

He picked up the newspaper lying on the table to read some pleasing news.

"Murder, murder, rape, murder, kidnapping, bad weather, another rape,... damn this world. I don't know the last time I read something good in these papers.", and he threw the paper back on the table.
He switched on the television and trapezed from news channel to another.

Murder, bad stocks, more bad stocks, actors adopting a black baby, actors cloth malfunctioned, celebrity gettin...

"Here you go, neighbour. It's all done."

"Have you checked it?"

"Nah. The battery was out and I gotta go run some errands. It will be all fine, trust me."

"Thanks, John."

"Ah. Don't say it. Liked the beer?"

"Oh yeah. What beer is this?"

"Wife's folks have a brewery. They keep sending boxes of this. Now if you want one I can drop them over to your house later this evening."

"Sure."

"Ok then. I gotta run. Happy whatever-you-do-on-your-phone."

Old Paul laughed and went back to his home quickly to charge his phone and check the latest news update. He waited for some minutes, opened his phone back, checked the news quickly and they were still bad. No peace, no nothing.

He went back to the home-screen and the app was still there.

"What in the name of Holy-smoke is this?"

Suddenly his youngest son came to the door of his room.

"Dad you gotta drop me off at the station, remember?"

"Yeah", Old Paul said in a somewhat sad tone, "this app is still there. That cleaning the whole phone stuff didn't work."

"Not a big thing, dad. You gotta check with the company guys. They will do it for ya. Now better get ready. My train is in an hour."

Old Paul got up, went to the garage and started the car. He suddenly remembered that the weather was going to be bad in the evening and they might be running short on groceries. He went running to the kitchen.