Minnesota, 1983

The Mostly Methodist Club met Saturday morning year-round, but was at its best in autumn and winter, when it helped steel the ladies for the Sundays their men spent watching TV sports with eyes glazed like so many holiday hams…

The mostly-married, mostly-middle-aged members of the Mostly Methodist Club (Deborah Cohen made it “Mostly”) were used to swapping recipes, not stock tips. They’d taken few risks in their lives, and had even fewer adventures.

But when a pink-haired young rebel named Skye found her way into the group, things changed. The ladies had already begun looking into investment opportunities, after realizing that their retirement earnings would barely keep them in Burpee seeds and baking powder. But it was Skye who tipped them off to a struggling new company that might be worth sinking a few dollars into. A company that was developing some interesting new technology. A company run by a man named Bill Gates…