August in Americus is a slow-moving thing: magnolia leaves rattling in the heat, a sprinkler ticking somewhere down the block, everybody waiting on six o'clock. Murfree Lawn Care (MLC) keeps its routes rolling through the worst of it — mowing, string trimming, edging, hedges shaped, clippings and limbs carried off. The grass does not take August off, so neither does the work; a yard skipped in this county is a yard lost for two weeks. Come evening the light goes long and low across the fresh-cut lawns and every stripe stands out. Then the trucks head home and the crickets take the shift.