The railroad set Rayle down in the middle of Wilkes County, and the town has kept that scale ever since: a few streets, red clay shoulders, pines standing back behind the pasture fences. Curlee's Lawn Service works those yards through the long Georgia growing season, when bermuda climbs fast after every warm rain and a week away shows in every blade. The work is mowing, string trimming around posts and mailboxes, edging the walks, then leaf cleanup in the fall once the oaks finally let go. There is a plain satisfaction in the last pass of an afternoon, with the mower lines lying even and the clippings blown off the drive. A yard like that reads from the road, and in a town the size of Rayle the road is where everyone sees it.