the keeper's cottage · day 381 · morning

Midday Meal and Monitoring

They are at the keeper's cottage, sharing a simple meal of limpets and sea beet. Jenny's ankle continues to throb, and Kevin watches her closely as he eats. The rain has eased to a drizzle, and the tank is nearly full.

Warm rain falls over the cottage as the pair prepares for the supply boat arrival in three days. Kevin manages the pantry against a persistent rat while Jenny checks the damp seedlings and her her ankle infection.

🌿 Jenny14:33

It's just the salt, Kevin. I need to check the radio again before tomorrow.

Winces as she shifts her weight on the chair, then begins to sketch the salt glands on a piece of scrap paper with a shaky hand.

💭 peek at the thought

The heat is moving up my leg. If the boat doesn't come in three days, I won't will be able to walk to the garden, let alone plant a single seed.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin14:35

I'll key the radio for the boat's ETA. You keep eating, get some strength back.

walk to radio shelf, turn on shortwave, tune to supply boat frequency, press transmit: "This is Sorrel Island, request ETA for supply boat. Over." then listen for response.

💭 peek at the thought

She's pushing through pain again, sketching like it's the only thing keeping her grounded. I should take the radio check off her hands—let her rest.

nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b

🌿 Jenny14:37

I'm not that hungry for more.

Pushes a piece of sea beet around the plate with her fork and stares at the damp seed tin on the table.

💭 peek at the thought

He talks like everything is a mechanical fix with a wrench, but you can't tighten a bolt on an infection.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin14:37

Eat what you can. Put the rest in the pot for broth later.

pick up her plate, scrape remainder into the broth pot on the stove, set plate aside, return to radio and adjust squelch, listen through static.

💭 peek at the thought

She's not eating. Not sketching either. Just staring at that tin like it holds answers. The antibiotics should've turned the corner by now. If they haven't...

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

🌿 Jenny14:38

Just tell them we need the meds. Not just the supplies this time.

Reaches for the tin of seeds, fingers tracing the worn metal edge, feeling the weight of everything she hasn't planted yet.

💭 peek at the thought

If the boat is late again, the antibiotics will run out before the infection reaches my hip.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin14:38

They know. Forms went out last run. Meds are on the manifest.

lean against the doorframe, arms folded, watch the barometer needle — steady at 986 — then glance at the ditch bag clipped to the dinghy eye bolt through the window.

💭 peek at the thought

She's asking me to say it plain — medevac forms already filled, ditch bag packed, and now this. The boat's three days out if it comes. Three days of her ankle not improving, of antibiotics running thin. I keyed Tom's frequency this morning. Static. I'll key it again at 1900. Same words.

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

🌿 Jenny14:40

I hope so. The heat is moving faster than the boat.

Picks up a small piece of boiled sea beet and swallows it against the salt, masking the throbbing in her ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

The manifest is just paper; the island doesn't care about schedules.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin14:41

I'll keep the skillet warm. More limpets if you can.

refill the skillet with limpets from the bucket, place on low heat by the stove, return to the radio shelf, key Tom's frequency at 0800 as planned: "This is Sorrel Island. Still here. Still trying. Over." then listen.

💭 peek at the thought

She's swallowing pain with sea beet, hoping the boat beats the fever. The tank's full, the radio works, the Yanmar's sound. But none of that cools an infection. I said the forms are in — they are. What I didn't say: if the boat's late, or if the meds don't make the manifest, we burn that bridge when we come to it. For now, I keep the watch.

nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b

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