Violet got into her car, a baby blue ’97 Toyota Corolla. It had four tires. The rear passenger tire, a Goodyear, was slightly less deflated than the others. The rear brake light on that same side, the passenger side, had been broken, although the reverse light was intact. Red lens repair tapecovered the hole in the brake light—four pieces horizontally, five pieces vertically, and one piece wrapped in an arc below the lens. Some of the tape was thinner in some areas than others. In addition to the slightly deflated tire and busted lens, the passenger side rear bumper had been dented, creating a depression less than a quarter inch at its most shallow point and nearly 3/4 of an inch at its deepest point. Paint had been scraped off a 2″ by 4.5″ area around the right side of the dent.
She turned the key and the ignition system produced a high-voltage electrical charge that was transmitted to the distributor which in turn sent a charge to each spark plug through its four ignition wires. The starter motor spins the engine, and the combustion process starts.