A nor'easter announces itself over Old Bridge the same way every time: the wind shifts, Route 9 goes quiet, and by two in the morning the first inches are already down. Gerity's Property Maintenance is out in that hour, plowing driveways and lots, shoveling walkways, spreading salt where ice would otherwise set up hard by sunrise. The point of the night is never the storm — it is the person leaving for a six o'clock shift who finds a clear path to the car and thinks nothing of it. Snow removal gets measured in that small absence of trouble. Clear pavement, then the next address, until the sky finally lightens over the township.