A bright Saturday in September, and Whitelaw Avenue is quiet enough to hear a mower running three streets over. Wood River Lawn Care carries the town's own name and works its blocks accordingly, mowing, trimming, edging, blowing walks and drives clean, then clearing leaves once the maples get serious about it. There is a particular pleasure in knowing a place yard by yard: which lots hold water after a storm, which corners burn out in August, which fences have to be hand-trimmed. The town is small enough to take personally. Every lawn finished is one more square of it looking the way it should.