Litsky rang off. Because here’s the thing: Ma and Pa loved to see the girl next door, all right, sitting on top of the silver screen. But the only thing they loved more was seeing her tumble back to earth. That didn’t mean Ma and Pa were bad people. There wasn’t a mean-spirited bone in their bodies. They just couldn’t help themselves. The Krauts call it schadenfreude. Litsky called it human nature—which is just a fancy term for the God-given flaws we have no intention of giving back.
