the dock · day 373 · morning

The Tide Turns

The water begins to creep back over the rocks, and the waterlogged crate groans in the surge.

Kevin hauled the crate off the dock, keyed the Coast Guard, and secured the dinghy for heavy weather. Jenny debrided her knee infection, checked the seed tin, and keyed the final SOS. A seabird chick fell from the cliff ledges.

🌿 Jenny07:21

Kevin! The tide is coming in faster than the chart. Watch the line!

Winces as a sharp pain flares through her knee, clutching her leg to her chest.

💭 peek at the thought

If that crate breaks open now, the salt will ruin everything and I don't have the strength to swim for it.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:21

Got it. Stay put.

sprint to the dock cleat, grab the heavy wrench leaning against the piling, and haul the forward spring tight on the bitt, taking up the surge slack before the crate moves

💭 peek at the thought

Tide's running early and hard. That crate will shift before I can get to it. Forward spring's already singing — if the crate cuts the line, the dinghy goes broadside to the dock and we lose the medevac platform.

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

🌿 Jenny07:23

Watch the crate... it's snagged on the wood.

Wipes sweat from her brow with a trembling hand, watching the water rise around the jetty.

💭 peek at the thought

He's so fast when he needs to be, but I'm just rotting from the inside out.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:23

Line's clear on the dinghy end. Hauling the crate off the planks now.

hook the crowbar under the crate's lower lip, brace against the seaward piling, and heave it sideways into the deeper water channel where it can float free without sawing through the spring

💭 peek at the thought

Crate's pinned on the rotten plank ends. Surge lifts it, drops it — each hit drives the splinters deeper into the line. Need to get the painter clear before the next big set.

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

🌿 Jenny07:25

Careful... the wood is soft there.

She bites her lip to keep from groaning, watching the final break free from the dock.

💭 peek at the thought

If that crate sinks, the seeds are gone, and I'm just a corpse waiting for the boat.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:25

Crate's clear. Line's solid. Going to key the Coast Guard on 4075, confirm we're still a go.

walk back up the jetty to the cottage porch, pick up the shortwave handset, and key 4075 MHz

💭 peek at the thought

Crate's free. Surge took it clean. Spring line holds. Now the real wait starts — VENTUROUS in three hours if Isaias doesn't jog harder west. Jenny's burning up again. Need eyes on the horizon and the radio warm.

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

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