She reached into her hair and pulled out a bent bobby pin, using it carefully to guide the cable back into place before wrapping her sleeve around her hand to tighten the connection as much as possible. Her arms trembled with effort, but she did not stop until the cable felt secure.
Raymond watched closely, his attention shifting from casual curiosity to genuine focus as he realized she was not pretending. June stepped down from the stool and moved away from the car before saying, “Try it now, and do not touch the gas.”
Raymond paused briefly, then got back into the driver’s seat while the crowd leaned in slightly. One of the young men lowered his phone without noticing, and the tension in the air shifted into anticipation.
He pressed the ignition button, and the engine started immediately with a smooth, steady sound that erased all doubt about what had just happened. The silence that followed was not awkward but stunned, as people processed what they had witnessed.