BACKGROUND
TO THE STORIES
Reggie Penworthy had ambivalent
reactions to the discovery
that silicon chips caused Alzheimer’s. He had made his fortune in the
1990s in Austin’s
tech boom and
had retired a very rich man at the age of forty-six. But not only had
he spent
considerable time in the presence of the chips and was thus a potential
victim,
it also saddened him to see so many people thrown out of work. But the
one
gleaming positive that made Penworthy a happy man was that the city’s
crumbled
economy led to the establishment (actually re-establishment) of the
Austin Golf
Club.
Austin’s
stuffing was knocked
out, second only to that region of northern California
that had such a high incidence of Alzheimer’s that its nickname changed
to Forgotten
Valley.
Austin’s
tax base collapsed so much, and the
need for social services grew so high, that the municipal government
began
cutting all sorts of nonessential services. Golf was second to go,
preceded by
libraries. The sale of hundreds of acres of city-owned land, which at
the peak
would have brought in billions, now brought paltry millions, most of
which was spent on building cut-rate trailer parks and private prisons.
Penworthy purchased Hancock Golf
Course from the city, getting nine holes, a clubhouse, and a group of
long-time regulars who were grandfathered into the new club, along with
a variety of
newcomers of various ilk.
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