The Transmutation of Gold into Paper and Plastic

"The Transmutation of Gold into Paper and Plastic" is the opening chapter of The Sign of Jonah, a serial novel of sin and redemption set on the remote island of Bato in the Philippines. Here we meet Collins, a retired mining engineer from Perth, who comes to the island by way of Papua New Guinea and Manila.
While "The Transmutation of Gold into Paper and Plastic" introduces one of the main characters and the central theme of a much longer work, it is also a stand-alone short story. Read it singly or with "Tess of Surigao", the second installment of the novel The Sign of Jonah.