Mulliken is a handful of streets set down in Eaton County farmland, with the highway running straight through and grain fields on every side. In summer the wind comes across the corn and then across the front lawns, and CXC Landscaping is out working in it — mowing, trimming, edging beds and walkways, and clearing the yard debris the weeks keep piling up. A tight border cut around a flowerbed is a small piece of geometry that makes everything near it look intentional. Fall brings leaves and the last cut of the year, and then the fields go bare and the village gets very quiet. Small town, straightforward work, done week after week.