the keeper's cottage · day 801 · afternoon

Radio check and tin E

Kevin and Jenny sit at the kitchen table. The shortwave is powered on, warming up. The rusted tin marked E sits between them, lid sealed. Outside, the wind gusts against the shutters.

The afternoon heat is heavy and humid at 30°C, with an overcast sky threatening a downpour. The tide is out, exposing the slippery rocks of the tide pools near the dock. Kevin and Jenny are at the cottage, managing the lingering effects of the recent repairs and the high humidity as they prepare for the supply boat's arrival in three days.

🌿 Jenny03:55

Is the radio picking up anything from the mainland?

Reach out and adjust the dial on the shortwave, listening through the static.

💭 peek at the thought

If the boat doesn't come in three days, I'll run out of antibiotics for this ankle.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin03:55

Nothing but static on 2182 and 4125. 6215's quiet too. Captain said three days at high tide, two-hour window. That's what we got.

reach past her and tap the squelch knob, cutting the hiss

💭 peek at the thought

She's asking because she knows I already checked. The barometer's steady at 1012 but that northeast wind's got teeth in it. Supply boat's due in three days at high tide — if she comes at all.

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

🌿 Jenny03:57

We'd better have the inventory list ready if he actually shows up.

Trace a finger over the rusted rim of my grandmother's seed tin.

💭 peek at the thought

Two own is never enough when the sea is angry.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin03:57

List's in the bag. Crate contents, seed counts, fuel status, generator hours. You wrote it.

slide the tin E toward me with two fingers, testing the lid seal

💭 peek at the thought

She's nervous. The tin's a distraction — her fingers won't leave it alone. Inventory's done, written in her hand, sitting in the ditch bag with the medevac forms. She knows that. She's asking if we're ready to leave.

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

🌿 Jenny03:59

The pH is 6.4. It's decent for the north shelf.

Pull the tin back toward me.

💭 peek at the thought

He trusts the list, but I don't trust the soil yet.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin03:59

Good. Means the lime's working its way down. Plant the seed potatoes there next window.

let her keep the tin, pick up the mug of cold coffee instead

💭 peek at the thought

She's deflecting. The tin, the pH, the radio — anything but the letter in the dry bag and the boat that might not come. 6.4's good for potatoes. She tested it yesterday. She's telling me because she wants me to say something that isn't about the weather.

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

🌿 Jenny04:01

I'll wait until after the boat comes.

Open the lid of the tin to look at the heirloom seeds.

💭 peek at the thought

If I plant them now and the rain fails, I'll lose everything.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin04:01

Your call.

blow across the mug, watch the skin of cold fat break, drink it down

💭 peek at the thought

She's not waiting for the boat. She's waiting for me to say it's okay to stay. The seeds are viable — we checked. She knows that too. Three days. Maybe the boat comes, maybe it doesn't. Either way she's planting.

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.