Bud Grossmann’s Words of the Week for the Week of August 28, 2011 Previously unpublished fiction. © 2011 by Bud Grossmann. All Rights Reserved.   Jerusalem to Jericho, 2011 © 2011 by Bud Grossmann A REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE       At four o’clock on a sunny late-August weekday afternoon, David Fischer, a sixty-two-year-old retired resident of Fjord, Wisconsin, was about to take a break from “working” at his home computer. He intended to bicycle one block to Fjord’s post office, where he hoped to receive an envelope too large for his post office box and whose contents, pertaining to a financial matter, might require his immediate reply. The post office counter closes at four thirty.       Before leaving his desk, Fischer glanced at the Madison Craigslist w4m’s for the day and found an unusual posting marked 12:55PM CDT. help me to leave my abusive ex husband. - 38 ([wisc. city]) i am right now in bowling green kentucky and my ex husband [here the poster stated a presumably real, uncommon or unique first-and-last name] had beaten me up badly. i am coming back to wisconsin and i am looking for a man to take me in and treat me like a real person. i,m so sick of men who abuse women. [The posting was signed with the presumably real first name of the CL poster. A poor-quality cell phone self-portrait, presumably of the poster, was included.]       Fischer Googled the names in the posting and found information lending credibility to the statements in it. Fischer recognized a high likelihood that the posting would soon be flagged for removal. Fischer is well acquainted with two pastors of a large Lutheran church in the city named in the posting; he has been introduced to the chief of police in that city. Fischer maintains a Gmail account registered in a fictitious name from which he could send and receive e-mails without revealing his own identity.       At 4:15PM, Fischer made a decision. ♦         ARCHIVES         Click for a list of other Words of the Week I would welcome your thoughts on this page (or any of my others).  Write to me at the following address.  Please be sure to spell Grossmann with two n’s and mention what page you are writing about. Thanks!  BUD GROSSMANN Top of this page | HOME | Fine Photography | Picture of the Day | Writings | | Words of the Week | Mom & Pop Prop. Mgt. | FAQ |

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