The rail line runs straight through the middle of Riverhead, and on a snowy morning you hear the train long before you see anything at all through the gray. J P Hunter Co Inc is already out by then, plowing driveways and parking areas, clearing walkways and doorways, and putting de-icer on the lots so the first arrivals of the day can walk in without thinking about it. Snow on the East End comes off the water heavy and wet, the kind that packs down under tires and sets like stone if it is left alone. So it gets moved while it is still moving, and the piles get pushed where they will not block a sightline or refreeze across the pavement. Come daylight, everything looks unremarkable, which is the highest compliment this work gets.