There wasn't much that Dietrich was afraid of. Not anymore. Two fears remained the same. One was Troy's unpredictability. The other was spiders. Eight-legged menaces. Creatures that should never been created. Dietrich swore spiders had gotten through some crack that separated Hell from Earth and were so numerous that it wasn't worth trying to put them back. That was his theory—after all, spiders got in the house no matter how many times he checked it for entry points.

He went into the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea that afternoon, having spent most of the day taking care of the yard, and found himself staring at a big spider sitting on the cabinet door, effectively blocking him from his tea. His sudden shout prompted his wife, Esther, to come running down the stairs.

"Hans! Hans, are you alright?" she asked.

"There is a spider on the cabinet!" Dietrich said.

"So, hit it with the flyswatter!"

"You do it! I am afraid of missing! Or it jumping at me."

"Oh, Hans." Esther rubbed her face. "Get the flyswatter, and hit it."

Dietrich took the flyswatter from its hook on the side of the fridge. He moved to strike the spider, but the little beast began crawling upwards. "No, no, no, no! Do not go where I cannot reach you!"

"This is going to be the spider in the shower all over again," Esther sighed.

Dietrich nodded. "Except I am not undressed." He watched the spider intently as it crawled to the ceiling. He swiftly ducked away, afraid it was going to drop down on him. "Now what?"

"Wait for it to move to an easier spot. Have your tea, Hans."

Dietrich avoided going directly under the spider while trying to make his tea, all the while anxiously looking up at it. He kept the flyswatter nearby, assuming he was fully prepared for when the spider next showed up. When he turned around to grab a spoon for the honey, he was unaware of the spider gently coming down by a strand of silk, and landing on the handle of his mug. Dietrich turned back around, saw the spider, and let out a string of curses in both English and German.

Esther ran back into the kitchen. "Are you alright, Hans?"

Dietrich pointed at the handle of his mug. "Look where it is now!" Nervously, he reached with the flyswatter to move the spider off the handle. The spider began crawling onto the flyswatter. Frantically, Dietrich began whacking the flyswatter against the counter.

"I think it is certainly dead now," Esther said with a slight wince.

Dietrich stopped, and saw spider bits now covered the counter. Relief came over him as he put the flyswatter away and grabbed a rag to clean up the spidery carnage.

"Do you feel better now?" Esther hugged him from behind.

"Much better," Dietrich replied. "Now, I can enjoy my afternoon tea in peace."

"Good. That means I can finish folding the laundry in peace."

"Would you like dinner when you are done?"

"What did you have in mind for tonight?"

"You decide, my dear." Dietrich stayed still as Esther hung on and squeezed him, then reached behind to pat her head. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Hans. Enjoy your tea."

"I will."

It didn't take very long for Dietrich to forget about the spider. He decided to finish his tea rather quickly, and headed upstairs to see if Esther needed help with anything.

"Will you help, or will you be a distraction?" Esther asked.

"I always help. You just get distracted by my mere presence here."

Esther blushed. "Oh, alright, you got me there."

"I could be distracting if you want me to."

"How about we save that for later, Hans?" Esther reached over to gently scratch the back of Dietrich's neck, sending pleasurable chills down his spine.

"That sounds good to—" Dietrich pulled a shirt out of the laundry basket. He recognized it, but knew it wasn't his or Esther's. He gave a heavy sigh. "How?"

Esther looked at the shirt. "That is how many of Troy's shirts we have found in our laundry?"

"Three. There are two of Moffitt's, and another two of Hitch's in that basket we set aside when we started finding them." Dietrich threw the shirt in the basket. "I should have given a clearer dress code for the wedding. Then they would not have been constantly changing and leaving their clothes everywhere."

"You all do wear similar clothes," Esther said. "At least Troy did not leave his hat."

"I am convinced that Troy remembers to put his hat on before remembering to put trousers on in the morning."

Esther gave him a concerned look. "There had better not be a story behind this."

"There is not, thank goodness."

"Agreed. Thank goodness."

"But now that I have said it, it will probably happen, so I apologize in advance."

"Thanks for the warning, Hans." Esther continued folding the laundry, but paused to look at Dietrich. "I must ask, does Troy know about your fear of spiders?"

"Funny story. I told him when we finally set our rivalry aside. We had a discussion about the things we feared the most. We did discuss more serious fears—he is afraid of not being worthy of Heaven, I am afraid of dying alone—" Dietrich paused, looking Esther in the eye, "Or was afraid of dying alone. Not anymore, though. I have you now."

"Unless something truly terrible happens, we will be growing old together," Esther said.

"I already feel old sometimes. Anyway, we also discussed some… more irrational fears. Troy is terrified of tornadoes. I actually saw how scared they make him when I visited his ranch for the first time one summer. One touched down several kilometers away from his property. It moved away, but he was still pretty badly frightened."

"Oh, poor dear."

"He was fine. I understand why he fears them—their destructive power. In an instant, he could lose his ranch. I also learned that after he married Shauna, his fear of tornadoes has not exactly gotten better, because not only could he lose his ranch, he could lose her."

"Did he tell you that?"

"No. Hitch told me. He was visiting Troy a few summers ago and when a thunderstorm was due to hit the area, Troy told Shauna not to leave, even though she had already made plans to go into town and get groceries. That started a bit of an argument, until Hitch broke it up to explain what he was convinced Troy's reasoning was."

"Troy and his wife never argue."

"That was how scared he had gotten." Dietrich set a neatly folded towel aside. "Then there is my fear," he said with a grin. "Spiders. I told him that I nearly jumped out of a half-track because there was a spider under the machine gun."

"Where did your fear of spiders even come from?"

Dietrich shrugged. "I have no idea. It did not help that the ones in North Africa are… big. Too big. Spiders should not be big, and they have too many legs."

"I see."

Dietrich quickly changed the subject. "So, what would you like me to make tonight?"

"You have not made hasenpfeffer in a while. Could you?"

"I should check to see if we have rabbit."

"You did make it with lamb once and that was just as good."

"Well, I have to see if we have that, too." Dietrich finished folding one of his shirts, kissed his wife on her forehead, and then headed downstairs to see what was available. He did indeed find rabbit in the freezer, and set it in the sink to begin thawing. When he turned to search for seasonings in one of the cabinets, he noticed another spider, this time perched on the handle of the flyswatter, and let out a piercing scream.