Bill was born the youngest child of Vietnamese refugees now living in San Francisco after fleeing persecution in their home country. Both he and his mother were in poor health from his birth. A fortune-teller told his mother that for his safety, Bill should be told that he was adopted, even though he lived with his biological parents. So they did that. Bill and his mom survived, so maybe it worked?
Bill was poor but didn't realize it. His father worked as a laborer at a printing press, his mother stayed at home and cared for him and his three older sisters. Growing up in the crime-ridden Tenderloin meant he learned to be streetwise. But his family was eventually able to move to the quiet Richmond District, where Bill had a perfectly ordinary upbringing attending public schools as a nerd with absurdly-thick glasses. He was smart but quite shy and completely incompetent at interacting with girls. He was a surprisingly fast sprinter who was on the track team, but also an asthmatic with pestering allergies and associated poor health. One of his sisters was eventually fed up with the weird adoption lie and told Bill that he was living with his true parents. The revelation immediately felt true and made him happier.
Bill attended college at a liberal public university close to home. He was supposed to study engineering, but became fond of physics instead, a far less useful field of endeavor. He became best friends with a guy who turned out to be in love with him, which was awkward but eventually resolved into a strong platonic friendship. He found a thrilling but fleeting romance during two months aboard a cruise ship that sailed around the Pacific Rim.
After graduation, Bill found a job working for the Department of Energy, which unfortunately meant living in the other side of the country and trying to make new friends, which was not his strong suit. He became a singer of renaissance carols and player of board games and role-playing games. He also played World of Warcraft--initially with real-life friends, but eventually in an obsessive, unhealthy way. He grew bored of his job, homesick, and basically wanting a change, so he applied to a bunch of law schools, generally expecting to return to California.
Instead, he found himself driving north to Boston and delving deeper into World of Warcraft to escape the isolation and miserable winter. In his second year of law school, he made plans to spend his third and final year in California. But that year, he became friends with a fellow law student who was also nerdy, studied engineering, and liked board games. She happened to have a summer internship in San Francisco and really needed someone to help drive her to the grocery store. Romance blossomed and Bill scrapped his California plans and returned to Boston. At the end of law school, Bill proposed and Helen accepted.
Bill and Helen became intellectual property lawyers and bounced around between Silicon Valley and Washington DC before settling back in San Francisco. Bill occasionally worked on death penalty cases to make up for his otherwise very corporate existence. They got three dogs together including two miniature poodles that they bred and sold as a hobby, mostly to bring cheer into the world. Eventually, they took the leap to have a child--a boy born two months premature but with no obvious long-term problems. Bill and Helen adore him.
Bill was having another ordinary day, but during his commute to work, couldn't resist pulling up Wordle and guessing the word of the day while at a stoplight. The word was tricky, what could it be? Bill saw the car next to him pulling forward and realized he needed to move too, so he accelerated. What he didn't realize was that he had a red light--only the turn lanes were allowed to go. He sped in the path of a turning car that crashed right into him. He died immediately.
Gear upon death: Wallet (with cash and credit cards), Keys, Cell Phone, Jacket, Collared Shirt, Jeans, Socks, Sneakers, Surgical Mask
