the keeper's cottage · day 575 · afternoon

Afternoon rain and radio watch

The rain continues steady on the roof. The tank is full. Kevin sits at the table with the shortwave, coax cable coiled beside him, waiting for dusk to call the trust. Jenny rests on the cot, ankle elevated on a folded blanket, the notebook closed beside her. The barometer holds at 991 hPa.

No narrator was available, so nothing about this stretch was recorded.

🔧 Kevin17:56

Kevin — check the coax connection at the radio base, make sure the self-amalgamating tape on the aerial insulator hasn't lifted

💭 peek at the thought

The barometer's steady. Good. Means the front's passed or holding. Tank's full — overflow's running clean. Jenny's sleeping, finally. Ankle looks cleaner than yesterday. I'll give the radio ten minutes at dusk, same as always. Trust doesn't need much — just position, weather, stores. And that we're still here.

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

🌿 Jenny17:57

Is the radio holding up?

Reach out a trembling hand to wipe sweat from my forehead, wincing as the movement shifts the infection.

💭 peek at the thought

The fever is still a low hum behind my eyes, but the throbbing in my ankle has slowed. I need to check those own again before the light fails.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin17:57

Radio's fine. Aerial insulator's sealed, coax is new. You need water.

reach for the tin mug on the table, pour from the kettle in the basin, hold it out to her

💭 peek at the thought

She's burning up again. The antibiotics should've knocked this back by now. Her hand's shaking — weakness, fever, or both. Radio's the least of it.

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

🌿 Jenny18:00

I'm fine. I'm fine.

Shift uncomfortably on the cot, the ankle pressing against the folded blanket. </think>THOUGHT: The coax is new but the aerial is still busted - I should check the connection at the base again.

💭 peek at the thought

The coax is new but the aerial is still busted - I should check the connection at the base again. And I need to move before the tide traps me here.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin18:01

You're not. Drink.

press the mug into her hand, steady it with mine until she takes it, then settle back in the chair by the radio

💭 peek at the thought

She's not fine. The trembling, the sweat, the way she's guarding that ankle — infection's still fighting. Antibiotics should've turned the corner by now. She won't admit it. I'll watch the radio, but I'm watching her more.

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

🌿 Jenny18:06

I'm fine. I'm fine.

Shift uncomfortably on the cot, the ankle pressing against the folded blanket. </think> Shift uncomfortably on the cot, the ankle pressing against the folded blanket.

flagged: repeated_opener

💭 peek at the thought

The coax is new but the aerial is still busted - I should check the connection at the base again. The coax is new but the aerial is still busted - I should check the connection at the base again.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin18:07

The blanket's too tight. Let me loosen it.

reach for the folded blanket's edge, careful not to jar her leg, and unfold the top layer so air hits the gauze wrap

💭 peek at the thought

She's saying it like a mantra. Or a wall. The ankle's throbbing under that blanket — I can see the shape of the swelling pressing the wool. Metronidazole's nearly done. Doxycycline too. If this doesn't break in the next day, we're out of options and the supply boat's nine days out. Radio can wait. She can't.

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

🌿 Jenny18:28

It's just the fever.

Take a slow, shaky sip of the water, the tin clinking against my teeth.

💭 peek at the thought

The water is warm, but I'm freezing. I can't even hold the mug properly without shaking like this.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin18:29

Fever doesn't do that to a joint. Rest now. I've got the radio.

pick up the coax cable, run fingers along the length checking for nicks or salt crust, coil it neat beside the set

💭 peek at the thought

Fever doesn't make an ankle swell like that. Or smell sweet-rotten under the gauze. She's drinking though. That's something. The tin's warm from my hands. Barometer's still holding. Nine days to the boat. I need to check the wound again when she sleeps. And the radio — trust check-in at dusk, ten minutes, same as always. They'll ask for stores, weather, condition. I'll give them numbers. Not this.

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

🌿 Jenny18:31

The blanket's tighter than Kevin likes.

Dangle my foot off the cot's edge, watching the water drip onto the floorboards.

💭 peek at the thought

The gauze is soaked through again. I need to change it, but I'm too weak.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin18:32

Kevin likes you breathing. Keep the foot up.

tear a clean strip from the newspaper bundle, fold it into a pad, set it on the table beside the mug for when she needs it

💭 peek at the thought

She's deflecting. Making a joke about my fussing to dodge the real thing. Foot dangling — weight off the heel, smart. But the drip on the floorboards means the gauze is weeping through. Sweet rot smell's stronger now. She knows. She just won't say.

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

🌿 Jenny18:33

I'm trying.

Lift my ankle back up onto the stack of pillows, groaning as the throb pulses in my shin.

💭 peek at the thought

He's so clinical, like I'm some equipment he's afraid of breaking.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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