You have to admit that you cannot help but laugh when you get messages like this begging for a link in a PAID directory
You should email him back and say that it costs money to get in. What is the page rank of the directory?
I get a few of those every few weeks. My favorite one was the fellow asking for a permanent listing on the new listings page.
I get them too...on a completely free directory. I suspect that they are using some automated tool that surfs the SERPs and then sends an email to every site on a given keyword asking for a link. So if you're getting them it's a good sign you could rank higher in the SERPs for whatever keyword they're using by doing some work on it.
Oh, how sweet, as he/she still remembered to tell us to ride safe, instead I have already felt off in the middle of road...lol