Storms come up the Hudson corridor with their own schedule, and in Mount Pleasant the serious ones land somewhere around three in the morning. EMPM Inc works that hour — headlights on empty streets, the ridge roads white, driveways that have to be open before the town wakes and tries to leave. Snow removal here is a matter of timing and repetition: clear it, come back when the wind fills it in, clear it again, keep the walks passable while the sky is still deciding. There is a specific satisfaction in a black driveway at first light with everything around it still buried. When the storm finally quits, the last pass is the careful one — edges squared, walkways down to pavement, cars able to move again.