The Virgin River comes down out of its gorge into the wide warm bottom at Beaver Dam, and the Joshua trees stand around on the benches above it like they are waiting for something. Outlaws Exterior Services keeps the properties in that bottom in order, mowing where there is grass, cutting back the mesquite and tamarisk crowding a fence line, raking gravel yards clean and hauling the whole pile away. Spring here is a short, loud green before the heat takes charge, and a yard cleared at the right moment holds its shape for months afterward. It is plain outside work in a corner of Arizona most people only ever see at seventy-five miles an hour. The people who actually live here notice a clean lot, and that is who the work is for.