Description 

A broken man chasing purpose (masked as treasure) and belonging while carrying the cross of his son's death until eternity. He's short and wiry with long, gray hair and a bushy beard of the same color. He walks slowly.

Early Life 

Born in 1849 in San Francisco, William Klein the fourth was the son of Anna Sanders and William Klein III. While Anna was giving birth to young William, the elder was chasing riches, a gold miner with an eye for panning and a never-ending thirst for treasure. The elder returned home with a one-ounce gold nugget, exhilarated from his score the same day of his first child's birth. He unwrapped the nugget from cloth, rested it on the blanket which wrapped the baby and called him Rush. "I hated being junior," the elder told Anna, referencing the line of Williams in the family.

"Rush is our luck charm," the elder bragged to the miners he'd meet daily.

While mining in the Black Hills of South Dakota at 25, Rush met Minnie, six years younger with golden wheat hair, sky-blue eyes and the mouth of a pirate. They married five months later and settled outside of San Francisco to be close to his mother. Minnie worked at his mother’s sewing shop while Rush hunted gold.

Six months later, Minnie gave birth to their first born, a son they named Jack.

On a scorching hot June day in in 1978, 4-year-old William joined Rush for a day at the river while Minnie took care of their six-month-old daughter, Grace, back at home. Rush panned for gold as Jack cooled off ten feet away. Rush hyper-focused on his pan for about five minutes, looked up and discovered Jack missing. Rush searched frantically for him. Thirty minutes later, a passerby yelled for help. Rush’s gut ached as he approached the man from behind, his arms clutching something. The man turned, and it was Jack. He was dead.

Jack’s death tore Rush and Minnie apart. Rush’s guilt led him to the bottle, while Minnie’s anger boarded on eruption nightly until she returned to her family in South Dakota the next spring. He hasn't seen Minnie since.

Rush fortified his mining and targeted Tombstone in 1881. He arrived in town the day after Morgan Earp was murdered at Schieffelin Hall. When he wasn’t mining ore, he helped the town rebuild after both fires using his basic knowledge of carpentry.

In the spring of 1897 Rush boarded a ship in Seattle and set off for Alaska, joining thousands of others chasing the riches of the Klondike Gold Rush. Little did any of them know that most of the claims were spoken for, and they’d be more likely to find the clap than worthwhile gold of any size.

Fancy gear littered the shack town of Skagway, signaling the amount of wannabes in town without a clue of what they’re doing as they realized their gear was too heavy for the dogs to pull. Lines and crowds deepened Rush’s hate of other humans while in Alaska. And that’s when he met Yukon. Rush found him chomping on scraps behind a hotel in town with a kitchen hand’s gun aimed at the dog’s heads. Rush paid the hand $15 to spare Yukon and promised that the dog wouldn’t be seen near the hotel again. And that’s when he decided to get the hell out of Alaska.

William Moore, a steamboat captain Rush befriended in Alaksa, had mentioned a story of gold found near a town called Strawberry. It was now August of 1898. Rush packed up his gear and what little of his Alaskan investment remained and started off for Strawberry.

Now 50, this is Rush’s last chance at fulfilling his destiny of making it rich in gold. Mostly, he’s been a dreamer, who for the last 20 years has isolated himself more and more as his grief from the loss of Jack blackened his heart and the selfishness of humanity he’s encountered crushed his empathy for others.

Present Life 

How it started

A crimson trail glistened in the white snow towards the woods from the campsite. The tent collapsed behind the fire, which needed more wood to avoid extinguishing. Rush woke up, dazed with bite marks on his right forearm and left calf. And Yukon, Rush’s best friend, was missing.

The four-year-old Husky has been his only constant over the last two years. Rush only remembers the bites, and then Yukon leaping over Rush’s head in attack mode before Rush passed out. Whatever tasted Rush had to deal with Yukon. Now Rush is left searching for the only two things that mattered in his life - gold and Yukon. Likely, he’ll die in his pursuit for both.

How it's going

Rush has settled upon a favorite panning spot along the Dakota River, a quick jaunt outside of Valentine, where he finds himself at night after a long day's work. He's often seen around the Valentine saloon drinking, smoking and chatting with familiar faces. He's seeking business relationships and stable buyers or traders of his gold. He hasn't found Yukon.

In September of 1899 a young red-head unexpectedly opened Rush's heart to the idea of love again, only to have her swipe it from him as quickly as it came. While she brought Rush immense pain, she also gifted him with the idea that the treasures in life aren't gold and riches - but love and friendships. Rush has developed valued friendships in New Alexandria that continue to grow. And now, at 50, his biggest fear isn't dying poor. It's dying alone.

Affiliations 

None

Quotes 

Trivia 

Rush has a lucky gold pan. He lost his pan to Delphine (who he only knew as an exotic blonde with a Russian accent, as they never swapped names) in a bet made down at favorite panning spot. Rush bought a new pan and for the next two weeks, he hit a dry spell at the river, struggling to find nuggets. He asked about the blonde around Valentine, got her name, wrote her a telegram and Delphine agreed to sell the pan back to Rush for $5, along with trading the new pan to her. Rush's luck at the river returned immediately, his gold panning venture has proven a success and he will never let another person use his pan again.