He couldn’t see exactly what she was throwing away because the open refrigerator door obscured his view but she seemed to be giving the refrigerator a more thorough cleaning than usual. When she was done, she tied the top of the plastic bag before taking out the trash. Howard noticed as she lifted the garbage-filled, plastic lawn and leaf bag out of the kitchen pail and lugged it through the door to the garage, that the bag seemed to be far heavier than usual. “She must have really emptied the refrigerator this time. That’s one good thing about getting smaller,” he thought to himself with a secret sense of satisfaction, “At least I don’t have to take out the garbage anymore.”