Chapter 17

“Is happiness part of ordinary life?”

He frowned and shook his head. “There you are. It’s the German in your blood. What’s that word—? In German. Something—”

“Schadenfreude?”

He shook his head. “No. Welt—something.”

“Oh! Weltschmerz!”

“That’s it.” He frowned. “What does it mean, anyway?”

I laughed. “You were bringing it up!”

“Yeah, but what does it mean, darling! You’re the dictionary.” He paused and became more serious. “You and—”

“George.” I completed the thought, and felt myself become sad.

Zvika put a hand on my shoulder. “Yeah. You guys are amazing. I remember the time, at one of his parties, people passed out drunk everywhere, and you and him, in the kitchen going through the dictionary, looking for interesting words! So, come on.”

I laughed and nodded. “Weltschmerz, means, literally, the pain of the world. Schmerzmeans pain. But it actually means the suffering of realizing the difference between the actual world and the ideal world, how things couldbe.”