Every day after work Paul took his muddy boots off on the steps of the front porch. Alice would have a boots made it so far as the welcome mat. He then took off his dusty overalls and threw them into a plastic garbage bag: Alice left a new garbage bag tied to the porch railing for him every morning. On his way in the house, he dropped the garbage bag off at the washing machine and went straight up the stairs to the shower as he was instructed. He would eat dinner with her after he was "presentable," as Alice had often said.