Afton sits where old Route 66 bends down toward the arms of Grand Lake, and a summer morning here is warm and heavy well before eight. Kay's Lawn Service mows through it — town lots along the highway, lake places off the county roads, the yards that fall away toward Horse Creek. Bermuda wants a regular cut in this heat, so the schedule keeps pace instead of chasing, and the trimmer keeps the line along the walk honest. Cuttings get blown off the drive and the porch rather than left to be tracked inside. By afternoon the cicadas take the town over and the yard belongs to whoever wants to sit out in it.