The Alapaha runs dark and unhurried east of town, tannin-stained beneath the cypress, and the country around Lakeland shares that same easy pace. Lakeland Lawn Services keeps to it — week-in, week-out mowing, borders cut along walks and drives, trimming the places a mower will never reach. Nothing dramatic ever happens on a well-kept lawn, and that is rather the point. Cuttings off the concrete, the height held even from one visit to the next, a straight seam where grass meets pavement. It's the sort of steady attention a small town notices without ever having to mention it.