the dock · day 972 · afternoon

Afternoon Dock Prep

The sun begins to dip, casting long shadows across the salt flats. Kevin and Jenny begin organizing the gear for the supply boat as the breeze picks up.

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

🔧 Kevin10:00

Boat's due on the high. Two-hour window. We'll need the dinghy ready to receive stores and the crate cleared from the dock face.

walk up the jetty toward the cottage, checking the mooring ring bolts as I pass

💭 peek at the thought

Barometer's still dropping. Wind'll be southwest by midnight, fifteen to twenty knots. Need the dinghy warp doubled and the generator shed battened before dark. And Jenny's ankle — she's favouring it hard. Should've made her stay off it today.

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

🌿 Jenny10:00

I'll handle the crate. Just make sure the lines are clear.

Winince and hobble toward the dinghy, shifting my weight to my good leg while gripping the rough edge of the dock.

💭 peek at the thought

Two hours is never enough when the tide is fickle and my leg feels like it's full of glass.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:02

Lines are clear. Stern spring's doubled. Bow line's got slack for swell. You take the crate, I'll meet the boat in the dinghy.

untie the dinghy bow line and step aboard, settling the oars

💭 peek at the thought

She's pushing it. Ankle's hot to touch last I checked. But she won't take the cane and I won't waste breath arguing — not with the boat coming.

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

🌿 Jenny10:02

Be careful. Watch for the current near the point.

Lift the heavy wooden crate with my hip, biting through the sharp spike of pain in my ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

If that boat doesn't show, I'm going to run out of salt and hope.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:04

Aye. I know the water.

push off from the dock and pull steady strokes, heading for the mooring buoy off the point

💭 peek at the thought

Current rips past the point on the ebb. She knows. We both know. But she said it anyway — that's something.

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

🌿 Jenny10:04

(No response)

way on the floor of the dinghy, clutching the seed tin to my chest and watching the horizon.

💭 peek at the thought

The water is too dark today. The barometer is dropping faster than my ankle is screaming.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:06

(nothing — rowing steady, eyes on the horizon)

pull the oars in a long rhythm, scanning the southwestern horizon for the supply boat's running lights

💭 peek at the thought

She's not in the dinghy. She's on the dock with the crate. The radio in my pocket crackles static. Barometer's at 1012 now. Boat's late.

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

🌿 Jenny10:06

Do you see a break in the clouds yet?

wipe sweat from my eyes with a sleeve and squint against the grey line of the sea.

💭 peek at the thought

He's too quiet. The wind is shifting and the air tastes like iron.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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