The beginning

Have you ever received an email from someone you don't know? Today I found that email in my SPAM folder of all places?! What the?

It was from a woman in Russia, named Mary. I like to scan my SPAM folder just in case something important makes it in there by mistake. That's how I found this little gem. Tucked away in between offers for up to 80% off Viagra and penis enlargement pills, was an email entitled:

Tell me many kind words dear.

Now, I haven't been called 'dear' since my grandmother passed away in 1991, so naturally I was drawn to this email. I clicked on it and found the following magical message:

From: Mary
Date: Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 2:44 AM
Subject: Tell me many kind words dear.
To: xxxxx@gmail.com

Hi, I'm from Russia - a dream to live abroad, my name is Mary, can we get started?
"I'm on this dating site - come in to me.

Immediately, I was intrigued. 'Can we get started?' Get started with what? A game of 'Hungry, hungry hippos'? Lunch? Building a utopian society? A family? There were so many things Mary and I could get started with.

But the line that really caught my attention was 'Come in to me'.
Did she mean 'come to me'? I just don't know. But those 4 words told me that Mary needed help.

So there was only one thing I could do. I had to respond to Mary's plea.