Thunderheads build out over the American Bottom and climb the Edwardsville bluff with a whole flat afternoon of heat behind them, and some evenings that ends with a silver maple lying across a driveway. Ahlers Tree Service Inc works the morning after: storm damage cleanup, tree removal when a trunk has finally let go, and the trimming and pruning that give the next front nothing easy to take hold of. The old brick blocks near the Madison County courthouse keep their shade because somebody goes up into those crowns before the wind does. There is a particular satisfaction in a driveway swept clear by breakfast, the wood cut to stove length, the cut ends bright and square. Around Edwardsville, Glen Carbon and Maryville, that is the work — quiet on a good day and quick on a bad one.