During one of our visits to California to see my family (when we still lived in Connecticut) my sister was talking about a couple she knew. She said to me, “Oh, well you know Jerome, don’t you?” I said, “Nooo,” after mentally running through the list of people I had met on visits. She said, “Well, he knows you. From The Well? You play online games together?”

“Oh, that Jerome,” I responded. “Of course I know him. Nice guy.” Actually, despite knowing him for a few years, I had no idea...