the keeper's cottage · day 936 · dawn

Morning watch for the supply boat

Kevin sits on the porch steps with the shortwave radio warm in his hands, the barometer reading 1017 hPa and rising beside a steaming tin mug. Jenny is propped against the doorframe, her swollen ankle wrapped in fresh gauze and a sea beet poultice, the driftwood splint tied fast with sail twine. The tide is falling, exposing the dock's new greenheart plank and the mooring ring Kevin bolted down yesterday, and the supply boat is due at high tide in eight days' time — but the radio crackles with static, waiting for the captain's call.

Kevin and Jenny sat on the porch drinking coffee while the tide fell. The shortwave radio picked up only a distant news broadcast about Ukraine talks, no sign of the supply boat captain. Jenny's ankle swelling has begun to settle but the twine wrapping is chafing her skin.

🔧 Kevin04:39

Coffee's strong. Drink it while it's hot.

set the radio on the porch table and push the tin mug toward Jenny with two fingers

💭 peek at the thought

She's watching me listen to static. The barometer's rising, tide's falling, supply boat's eight days out — everything's where it should be except the radio. And her ankle. Eight days is a long wait if the infection turns.

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

🌿 Jenny04:40

Thanks, Kevin.

Take the mug, take a slow sip of the coffee, and look out at the receding tide.

💭 peek at the thought

His hands are shaking again; he thinks I'm not looking, but I see the way he grips the plastic of the radio.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin04:40

Ankle feeling any different?

lean back against the porch post, arms crossed, watching the water pull back from the dock

💭 peek at the thought

She's steady. Hands aren't shaking on the mug. Color's better in her face than yesterday. The poultice is working, or the antibiotics are, or both. Either way, she's buying us time.

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

🌿 Jenny04:41

A little. The swelling is starting to settle.

Shift my weight on the porch, wincing slightly as the splint rubs the skin.

💭 peek at the thought

It's still throbbing like a heartbeat, but the poultice is drawing the heat out.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin04:42

Twine's eating your skin. Let me re-wrap it after the tide turns.

glance at her ankle, then at the radio — still silent — and reach for my own mug

💭 peek at the thought

"A little" from her means a lot. The splint's chafing — sail twine on raw skin after three days. Need to pad it or re-wrap. But she's weight-bearing on it enough to shift. That's progress.

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

🌿 Jenny04:43

I'll check the drainage first.

Loosen the knot on the bandage slightly to inspect the red skin under the twine.

💭 peek at the thought

He's trying to be useful, but I can see the tremor in his fingers from here.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin04:44

Drainage can wait an hour. The tide's slack now — won't turn for twenty minutes.

take a slow sip of coffee, eyes on the water where the new greenheart plank shows clean against the old pilings

💭 peek at the thought

She's already moving past the injury. Checking drainage, checking soil, checking everything but the fact that she nearly lost her foot. That's how she works. I'll let her have the drainage — it's her garden, her ridge, her data. But the splint gets fixed before dark.

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

🌿 Jenny04:45

Twenty minutes it is.

Lean back against the stone wall of the way, letting my leg stretch out.

💭 peek at the thought

He's right about the slack. The island is quietest when the water stops moving.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin04:46

Radio's been dead quiet since 0400. Captain usually checks in by now.

turn the squelch knob a hair, listening to the hiss flatten

💭 peek at the thought

She gave ground. That's rare. Means she's tired, or the antibiotics are finally letting her sleep more than two hours at a stretch. Either way, I'll take it. Twenty minutes of quiet on a rising barometer with the dock holding and the boat coming — doesn't get better than this.

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

🌿 Jenny04:47

That's not right. The manifest says he'd be in radio range by dawn.

Pick up the handheld VHF and press the squelch button, listening for any crackle from the mainland.

💭 peek at the thought

The captain should've called by now. If there's trouble on the supply boat, I need to be ready.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

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