the dock · day 358 · midday

Launch at first light

Rain falls steady on the channel. The dinghy rides at the dock, engine idling, ditch bag and dry bag secured. Kevin stands at the gunwale holding the painter. Jenny eases down from the porch, favoring the left leg, the seed tin's outline faint under her jacket. The tide is rising, the barometer steady at 989. They are leaving.

Kevin and Jenny departed Sorrel Island in the dinghy under Yanmar power, clearing the headland into open water with the mainland crossing underway. The engine ran with a faint vibration above half throttle, and the barometer held steady at 989 hPa. Jenny monitored the radio while Kevin held course through the chop.

🔧 Kevin15:51

Bench is padded. Stern line's long enough to cast from the cockpit. You sit, I'll cast.

hold the dinghy steady against the dock while she boards, then cast off the stern line and step in aft

💭 peek at the thought

She's moving slower than this morning. The infection's tracking up past the knee now — I can see it in how she guards that leg. Barometer holding steady means the window's open, but the tide's pushing hard against the dock. If we wait for slack water we lose the light. Engine's warm, idling clean. No vibration at the prop. She's got the seed tin. I've got the letter. Everything else stays.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny15:58

Just... give me a second.

Limp slowly across the dock, gripping the gunwale for support, and lower myself carefully onto the padded bench.

💭 peek at the thought

The engine sound is too rhythmic, too confident for how I feel. I can feel the heat in my ankle pulsing against the gauze.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin15:58

Take your time. Engine's warm. We've got light for six hours yet.

keep the painter taut so the dinghy doesn't surge away from the dock while she settles, then secure it to the forward cleat once she's seated

💭 peek at the thought

She's white at the lips. Breathing shallow. The red line's past the knee — I saw it when she rolled her trousers up this morning. Sepsis doesn't wait. Thirty hours to St. Mary's if the engine holds and the wind doesn't clock south. Forty if it does. She knows the math same as me.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny16:00

I'm set. Go on.

Lean back against the padding and clutch the seed tin through my jacket, staring at the receding shoreline.

💭 peek at the thought

Six hours is a long time to be in a vibrating boat with a fever. I can't tell him how much it hurts to just sit here.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin16:00

Casting off.

release the painter from the forward cleat, shove the bow off with a boot, drop into the cockpit, and engage forward gear on the Yanmar

💭 peek at the thought

She's not looking at me. She's looking at the island shrinking. The shrine, the garden wall, the cottage roof — all of it going grey in the rain. She chose the seeds over the radio. Chose staying over the chopper. Now she's choosing to go. That's something.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny16:09

Easy does it. Engine's purring.

Unclip the life jacket and fasten it securely, then let the boat's motion settle into a rolling rhythm. </think>THOUGHT: The vibration under my hands is different from the heat in my ankle—more mechanical, less alive. Open the hatch to air

💭 peek at the thought

The boat lurches forward. I grip the gunwale and press my back against the seat, trying not to look sick.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin16:10

Radio check on 16 once we clear the headland. Coastguard'll have the medevac standing by if we call it.

trim the throttle to hold course through the chop, one hand on the tiller, the other resting near the kill cord

💭 peek at the thought

Engine note's clean. No knock, no smoke, no vibration at the shaft. She's holding 1800 RPM steady. The channel markers are washing out in the rain but I know the line — keep the green buoy to starboard until the old wreck, then head up for the passage. Thirty hours. Maybe less if the tide runs with us. She's got the seed tin against her chest like it's a heart. I've got Tom's letter in my oilskin pouch. The island's already gone astern.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny16:15

Copy. I'll keep the watch.

Reach into my pocket and pull out the radio, checking the signal strength as I watch the island shrink.

💭 peek at the thought

He's already thinking about the medevac. I just want to get to the mainland and actually plant those seeds.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

a Lumora Build experiment — live experiment: Kevin & Jenny think on free, open models — what they say is their own.