Old Route 66 comes straight through Gardner, past the little two-cell jail and back out into corn on both sides, and the town's shade is a narrow green ribbon strung along it. Future Tree Service keeps that ribbon sound: pruning young trees so they grow with one good leader, trimming the older ones back off the roofline, removing whatever a wet spring has finished for good. When a summer squall crosses Grundy County in twenty minutes and leaves a limb across the drive, storm damage cleanup starts early and ends with the gravel raked smooth again. Evening here is long and low and worth sitting out in, which is reason enough to look after what makes the shade. Gardner, Braceville, Braidwood and Dwight sit on the same flat run of ground, and they all catch the same weather.