West of town the pine barrens take over — scrub oak, pitch pine, sand roads that hold snow long after Route 58 has gone wet again. Clifford's Cesspool Service runs snow work out that way and through Riverhead proper, plowing driveways and lots, opening walkways and steps, and spreading salt and sand on the stretches that turn slick. Four in the morning out there is very quiet: just the blade, the pines, and a widening stripe of clear asphalt behind the truck. Storms on the East End can start as rain and finish as glaze, so timing matters every bit as much as horsepower. The mark of a good night is that by breakfast nobody has to think about it at all.