Late September in Locust Valley turns everything gold at four in the afternoon. The oaks let go a little at a time. M & A Landscape Services runs its route straight through it — mowing while the grass is still growing, edging the walks, cutting back tired beds, clearing leaves before they mat down and smother the turf. From the platform on the Oyster Bay branch you can tell which yards have had someone consistent about them all year. Down toward Mill Neck Creek the wind takes whatever it wants; the crew comes back and takes it again.