he took another step , past the rear passenger door , and he raised his left hand , palm flat , somehow already feeling the familiar sensations associated with an action he had performed a thousand times before , his palm on the metal maybe a foot from the edge of the lid , so that the force of his push would act on both hinges equally , so that the panel would not buckle , so that both calibrated springs would stretch together with soft creaks , whereupon the lid would go down smooth and easy until the upmarket mechanism grabbed at it and sucked it all the way shut .