At two in the morning a snowstorm over Monee is mostly sound: the scrape of a blade, the beep of a reverse, wind combing the open ground between subdivisions. Beverly Companies runs the plow routes in those hours, pushing drives back to pavement, clearing walks by hand, and putting salt down where ice wants to set. Out here the wind is the real problem, since a driveway can fill in twice before sunrise, so the route comes around again. The point of all of it is a small one, and it is everything: someone steps outside at six and the car goes where it needs to go. That is the whole job, done in the dark so no one has to think about it.