The Final Golden Years

Even back in school, some thirty years ago, Bea, Rita, Paul and Uwe weren't exactly "alpha dogs". Bea got ridiculed for her leg braces; Rita was so inconspicuous that even her own parents occasionally overlooked her; the red-haired autistic Paul contemplated suicide most of the time, and, since he was weight challenged, Uwe's peers liked to dress him up as a sausage.

None of them treasure their memories of those days, and they all envy Imke, Carl-Gustav, and Rüdiger, the rich, good-looking, popular ones, always at the top of the food chain. Not even their hope that everything would get better after graduation was fulfilled. Still, getting older has its advantages, especially if one was never good-looking and has little to lose. After all, perhaps only those familiar with unhappiness are able to be truly happy, and when Bea and her fellow sufferers meet again after all these years, they experience some pleasant surprises in the late summer of their lives.