“Just the battery,” Martha said.

“We don’t need anything else.”

Out in the side lot, the wind off the open farm fields carried the sharp smell of diesel exhaust and frozen salt.

Nathaniel backed his heavy pickup to within six feet of the blue sedan’s front grille and uncoiled two red and black jumper cables from his bed box.

Martha pulled the hood release inside the driver’s door, the rusted door scraping sharply as it swung open.

Nathaniel lifted the heavy steel hood of the Ford and set a wooden prop rod under it to hold it steady against the gusting wind.