jesse james on the high seas

we want you to paint our house
the email says.
having found me on some site
like yelp

or angie's list, or some other
hackable advertising site.

he's a mysterious stranger who lives at some
undisclosed location,

who says he's on a ship at sea in the north
atlantic

making it impossible to talk by
phone.

what's the address, I ask for
the third time. what exactly do you
want done?

colors, etc. inside, outside? I can
meet you there tomorrow.

no reply.
I want to deposit the payment
into your bank account, he writes.

and when it clears, you can
begin work.

no name, no address, no scope of
the job. nothing, just give me
your bank account number.

another jesse james on the high seas.