the keeper's cottage · day 691 · evening

Evening meal and weather watch

Kevin and Jenny sit on the porch as the tide turns. The barometer holds at 1015 hPa. The shortwave is quiet on the shelf. A pot of limpet broth steams between them. The supply boat is three days out. The Yanmar's vibration is a known quantity now. The dock holds. The ankle holds. Night is falling over the garden.

The wind continues to howl through the palms, a restless gusting sound that rattles the cottage shutters. Inside, the air is thick with the smell of salt and drying sea beet. Jenny sits heavily in the chair, her leg throbbing despite the fresh bandage, while Kevin finishes the last of the broth and watches the shadows dance on the stone-walls.

🔧 Kevin20:39

Broth's cooling.

lift my mug, blow across the surface, take a slow sip

💭 peek at the thought

She's watching the steam rise off the broth instead of drinking it. The fever's broken but the quiet hasn't. Three days until the boat — if it comes. The dock held today. The engine held. The ankle held. I keep waiting for the thing that doesn't.

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

🌿 Jenny20:39

It's fine. way warm.

Take a sip of the warm broth, feeling the salt and heat hit my throat.

💭 peek at the thought

Three days until the boat. If the fever spikes, I'll have to use the emergency antibiotics early.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:40

Eat the limpets too. Protein. You need it.

push the small bowl of boiled limpets across the table toward her, then settle back against the porch post

💭 peek at the thought

She says it's fine. Her fingers are white-knuckled on the mug. The broth's good — corned beef fat, sea beet, enough salt to taste like something. She hasn't eaten proper in two days.

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

🌿 Jenny20:41

I'm eating, Kevin.

Pick up a limpet with the fork, chewing the rubbery meat while looking out at the dark silhouette of the palms.

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks protein will fix an infection. I'm too tired to explain the biology.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:42

Wind's backing west. Might sleep better tonight.

finish my broth, set the mug down hard on the table, pull my knees up against the chill creeping through the porch boards

💭 peek at the thought

She's chewing. That's something. The palms thrash against the sky — gusts hitting thirty, forty knots maybe. The barometer's steady but the wind doesn't care. Three days. The boat comes or it doesn't. I've done what I can for the dock. For the engine. For her ankle. The rest is waiting.

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

🌿 Jenny20:43

I hope so.

Shift my weight away from the swollen ankle, wincing as the bandage rubs against the skin.

💭 peek at the thought

If the wind shifts, the swell will hit the dock harder. I just need to stop throbbing.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:44

Let me look at it. Tonight. Before we turn in.

reach for the first aid kit on the shelf behind me, fingers brushing the empty antibiotic blister packs before finding gauze and antiseptic cream

💭 peek at the thought

She winced. Tried to hide it. The bandage needs changing — pus still weeping, the metronidazole course finished but the red line tracking up her calf yesterday. I told her to stay off it. She walked the north ridge anyway. Sketched drainage patterns in the rain. She documents the world falling apart like it's data.

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

🌿 Jenny20:45

Okay.

way extend my leg out toward him, watching the way light catches the pulse on my skin.

💭 peek at the thought

It's still angry. The heat is spreading. I don't want him to see the redness again.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:46

Hold still.

unwrap the bandage slow, peeling gauze stuck to the wound, drop the soiled wrapping into the newspaper bag for burning

💭 peek at the thought

The pulse jumps at her ankle — fast, thready. Skin hot through the bandage. Red line faded but the swelling hasn't dropped. She's been favoring it all day, loading the good leg, and that hip will scream by morning. I have four doses of doxycycline left from the buried cache. Maybe two days if I split them. The supply boat brings more. If it comes.

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

🌿 Jenny20:47

I'm trying.

Bite my lip to keep from gasping, fingers digging into the wood of the chair.

💭 peek at the thought

It hurts when the air hits it. It looks so much worse than it did yesterday.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:48

Looking better. Clean.

squeeze a thin line of antiseptic cream along the incision, smooth it with a fingertip, re-wrap with fresh gauze firm but not tight

💭 peek at the thought

The incision's clean — edges knitting, no fresh pus. The red line's gone pale pink. Metronidazole did its work. But the swelling's stubborn, the skin shiny tight over the joint. She needs elevation, rest, time. She'll give it none of the three. The scalpel's in the kit, sterilized. I could lance the residual pocket if it comes to it. Rather not.

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

🌿 Jenny20:49

Thanks.

lean back against the stone wall, letting out a long, shaky breath as the throbbing continues.

💭 peek at the thought

It's not better. I can feel the heat radiating under the gauze.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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