the keeper's cottage · day 980 · night

Night watch and first light radio

Night has fallen full. The wind is north and steady, driving rain against the shutters. The barometer holds at 996 hPa. Kevin sits at the radio with the mic in hand, Jenny lies on the porch bench with the ankle elevated. The supply boat is due at 0640 high tide. First light is three hours away.

Kevin monitored the radio through the night as the barometer dropped to 994 hPa, confirming the supply boat's 0640 high tide arrival. Jenny's ankle infection spread past the marked boundary despite the sea beet poultice, running hot and pulsing. Both managed only fitful rest as wind rose against the shutters.

🌿 Jenny04:44

Check the radio again in an hour. The static is getting worse.

Apply fresh sea beet poultice to the ankle and wrap with clean gauze.

💭 peek at the thought

If the boat doesn't come, I won't have the strength to dig those pits tomorrow.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin04:44

Hour it is. Generator's clean. Tarp corners holding.

set mic back on hook, walk to porch table and check barometer reading again, sit on edge of bench near Jenny's feet and rest forearms on knees, listen to wind on shutters

💭 peek at the thought

The static's thickening with the falling pressure. She's right — another hour won't hurt, and the generator's holding steady on the new fuel line. My shoulder's throbbing from the tarp work but the anchor held.

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

🌿 Jenny04:46

It's getting heavy. Can you feel the heat there?

Reach out and touch the skin around the bandage, feeling the warmth radiating from the infection.

💭 peek at the thought

The barometer is still dropping; the island doesn't care about our schedule.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin04:46

Edge held at noon. Hasn't blown past the line since. You'd tell me.

reach over and rest back of hand lightly on her calf above the wrap, feeling for heat without disturbing the dressing, hold it there a moment

💭 peek at the thought

She's tracking it herself. Good. The boundary I marked at noon — she's checking if it's crossed. My fingers are still numb from the mallet work.

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

🌿 Jenny04:48

It's still too hot, Kevin. It's spreading.

Pull my hand away and look out at the rain, watching the bucket fill.

💭 peek at the thought

It's moving. I can feel the pulse under my palm.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin04:48

Next dose in four hours. We watch.

pull hand back to my knee, reach for the tin mug of lukewarm coffee on the porch table, drink half in one swallow, set it down hard

💭 peek at the thought

She pulled away. Not the heat — me. The metronidazole's only been in her system six hours. Trimethoprim twelve. They need time. But the spread doesn't lie.

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.