Someone named Eric Carra, apparently of no fixed address, as they say, and a person who professes to have attempted to engage me in correspondence no fewer than two times in the past, today writes:

From: ETCLD@aol.com

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 11:55:30 EST

Subject: At it again, huh?

Y’know, Mr. Capozzola, I’ve only written you twice before. On those previous occasions, I pretty much said that you’ve been acting like a whiny little child.

I’m back, and you’re doing it again. Suggestion: grow up.

Eric Carra

I wish I could tell Mr. Carra that it is nice to hear from him again, but, honestly, I can’t recall having heard or seen his name before this evening.

Here’s a tip for you, Mr. Carra, a tip from a whiny little child: If I didn’t answer your first e-mail and I didn’t answer your second, and if I cannot recall having received either message, it’s safe to assume you had little, if anything, of interest to say in your ultimately unsatisfyingly one-sided correspondence (an assumption confirmed by the vague, unspecific, and pointless verbiage of your latest little missive), and it’s a safe bet I’m not going to respond to this one either.

Instead, I’ll just share it with everyone.

So nice of you to stop by, however. Do come back.

Wait a second. Eric Carra. Is that the name Norah Vincent is using these days as she runs around southeastern Pennsylvania and southern and central New Jersey as a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman pretending to be a man?

Deceiving people, hurting their feelings, shocking them for a bit of malicious fun, knocking things over . . . A veritable bull in a china shop, this one, professional ethics be damned.

Nah, it couldn’t be. Last I knew, Norah was going by Fred.

But the tone of the message does sound a little like her. Or like her nasty friend Lisa McNulty.