Green corrosion had caked around both lead battery terminals, freezing into hard crusts over the copper wiring.

“Hold these clamps away from the frame,” Nathaniel said, handing the thick rubber grips to Martha.

He leaned in through the driver’s door to check the dash gauge, his shoulder brushing the gray vinyl door panel.

Packed behind the front headrests were four thick rolled wool blankets, two metal thermoses, and three plastic grocery bags full of children’s books and clothes.

A small pair of yellow rubber rain boots sat upside down on top of a laundry basket of winter socks in the rear footwell.