Baron came as though he were trying to rip the door from its hinges. Norma startled in her chair, where she'd perched with her embroidery, as though she'd been a perfect wife all night, sewing and not nosing around in her husband's things at all.

"Hi, honey!" She was too cheery.

He glared. "What's got into you?"

Norma sat her embroidery on the end table. "I'm just happy you're home," she said.

He gave her a cautious look, as if he thought she may be trying to lure him into a trap. When she simply smiled, he began to grin, unsure at first, but quickly grew confidence.

"Hey, cook me up something, will ya," he said happily.

"Sure," Norma said, with a weak smile. 

As she made to step away, Baron caught her arm tight. Her heart gave a dreadful lurch. 

"Where's your shoe, Norma?" he asked in the monotone voice he saved for dragging the truth out of people. It was a voice normally reserved for salesmen and lawyers. 

She hadn't realized that her shoe had slipped off, but now she felt the fuzzy rug beneath her left foot. Any thought of an explanation failed her. She felt small beneath his gaze.

"Well-I just don't know," she said. "I hadn't realized..."

"Oh!" Baron said. "You didn't realize. You hear that Lollie, she didn't realize. Must've gotten dressed in a quick, huh?" 

"What do you mean?" Norma asked. She tried to pull out of his grip, but he was strong as a lumberjack.

"Well, I come in, you're out of breath. You're filthy with sweat. Your damn shoe's gone, Norma."

"I-I don't-"

"I think you do. I think you got dressed in a hurry. I think you been messing around." 

Norma flew across the room as Baron released her with a shove. With his heavy boots pounding, he rushed to the closet and jerked the door open. "Where's he hiding, whore?"

She had crashed into the end table, where they kept the living room phone, a candy dish full of butterscotch, and an address book. The table toppled over, spilling small butterscotch discs in the floor. Her arm smarted. There'd be a new bruise to add to the rest. At this rate, she resembled a human leopard hybrid, with all the bruises Baron was leaving behind in his rage.

He was never this bad before, she was sure of it. He used to be so sweet and thoughtful. He brought her flowers without getting angry and crushing them moments later. He would buy her perfume without slamming the bottle against the wall. He would  take her out on actual dates and, on occasion, he'd even dance with her, without ripping her clothes off and leaving her broken at the end of the night.  

"That's ridiculous, Baron," she said. 

"Oh, is it? I'm the crazy one, am I? You really think I'm stupid. You think you can turn it around on me, well I got news for you, bitch, I'll damn sure find him."

He stormed over to the couch and bent to look behind it. When nobody jumped up and shouted, "Surprise! Sorry, I've been banging your wife," he rushed toward the hall and ripped open the closet door. 

Norma's shoe was there, below the attic hatch.

"Baron," she said, getting more nervous by the minute. "Baron, come on, let me warm up some green bean casserole..."

He shut the hall closet door, leaving the coats and shoes inside to themselves. When he started down the hall toward the bedroom, he saw it. Her breath caught. He picked it up and looked at it, as if he were checking it for secrets.

"It just slipped off is all," she said.  

He looked at her, at the shoe, and up toward the hatch.

"Did you go up there, Norma?" His voice had gone odd. Softer, confused.

"No, Baron, of course not," she lied. A lie was better than the alternative. "You know I can't stand heights."

"You wouldn't lie to me, would you?"

"Of course not." Yes. "I'm sorry I made you think something else was going on. I had gone to the bathroom, that's all."

Baron handed her the house slipper. "Don't ever go up there...or outside," he said, and that was that. 

He washed up while she heated the green bean casserole in the oven--Baron hated microwaves, because of the radiation he'd heard about. Norma sat at the table, thanking her lucky stars for the beating she'd just dodged. At the same time, she wondered how she'd dodged it so easily. It must be the box he had hidden up there. Were there others? Were there worse things inside? She couldn't keep from wondering, and the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to check it out. It might be a scary trip up there, but the world wasn't like it used to be. She wasn't 100% safe anywhere anymore. Not out there, not up there, and not even down in her own kitchen, between Baron and those things that were roaming everywhere.

Baron drank with his meal. As he sat down in front of the television with an old rerun of All in the Family playing, he asked for another beer, and another, and another. Norma brought them all obediently. She laughed when he laughed and answered when he spoke, but mostly she thought about the attic.