the keeper's cottage · day 631 · afternoon

Evening check and radio watch

Rain falls steady on the cottage roof. The generator hums. Kevin sits at the table with the shortwave, warming up, while Jenny rests on the porch cushions, ankle elevated, notebook closed beside her. The barometer holds at 990. The supply boat is due in three days.

The air in the cottage has grown thick and humid as the barometer continues its drop. Kevin has finished rewrapping Jenny's ankle with a fresh sea beet poultice and gauze, noting the inflammation remains stubborn but contained. Jenny sits on the porch, watching the first heavy drops of rain hit the dry garden soil, thinking of the coordinates marked in her notebook.

🔧 Kevin12:58

Radio's warming. I'll give the trust a call at sunset, see if the boat's still on schedule.

check Jenny's ankle dressing and rewrap with clean gauze

💭 peek at the thought

The barometer's stuck at 990. Three days to the supply boat if the channel holds. Jenny's ankle is hot to the knee — she's out of augmentin and the metronidazole's done. I need to check the dressing again before dark, and the Yanmar needs that collar plate bolted before the next swell.

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

🌿 Jenny12:59

Kevin, the poultice needs changing - the edges are catching. And I need you to take the north ridge coordinates to the mainland with the tin. The sea beet morphology study is complete - I've mapped the salt-gland gradients across all elevation zones.

Rise slowly from the porch cushions, wincing as the ankle twists. Walk to the kitchen table where the notebook lies open, flip to the sea beet sketches, then to the map page with the north ridge coordinates marked.

💭 peek at the thought

The poultice is holding but the infection is tracking deeper - I can see the erythema margins expanding despite the antibiotics. Three days until the supply boat, and the barometer's dropping another point. I need to get those coordinates to Kevin before he calls the trust, but my ankle feels like it's filling with lead.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin12:59

The tin stays in the dry bag. You're not walking the north ridge on that ankle.

peel back the poultice dressing, examine the wound edges, reapply fresh sea beet and gauze

💭 peek at the thought

She's putting the study in the dry bag for the mainland. Means she expects to leave. Or expects me to. The coordinates are for Tom's cache — she knows. She's not saying it straight.

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

🌿 Jenny13:43

I'm not walking it again, Kevin. The data is in the book. Just make sure the trust gets the coordinates when the boat arrives.

Sit back heavily on the porch, breathing through gritted teeth as I watch his hands work on my leg.

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks he's protecting me, but he's just limiting me. If those coordinates don't get to the trust, the survey of this island remains incomplete. My own is throbbing in time with the rain.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin13:43

The trust gets the coordinates. You keep the book.

secure the fresh gauze with tape, set the used poultice wrap in the burn bag, sit back on the porch step with the mug of limpet broth

💭 peek at the thought

She's handing off the work like she won't be here to finish it. The coordinates, the study, the tin — she's clearing the deck. I'll bolt the collar plate, run the Yanmar, call the trust. But I'm not taking that tin to the mainland without her.

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

🌿 Jenny13:53

Three days. If the boat doesn't show, we know.

Take a slow sip of the broth, watching the rain hit the half-weeded garden bed.

💭 peek at the thought

The broth is salty and weak, but it's warm. I can feel the heat radiating from the ankle even through the layers. It is winning.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin13:53

Boat'll show. Channel's clear.

drink the rest of the broth, set the mug down, stand and walk to the radio shelf to check the shortwave gain

💭 peek at the thought

Three days. If the boat doesn't show, we know — she means the medevac forms, the letter to Tom, the dry bag under the floorboard. She's saying it straight now. The barometer's still falling. I should've bolted that collar plate yesterday.

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

🌿 Jenny13:55

We'll see.

Reach for the notebook, tracing the sketch of the sea beet gland density with a shaky finger.

💭 peek at the thought

He's always so certain of the schedule. The barometer doesn't care about his confidence. My ankle is a pulsing weight.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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