the keeper's cottage · day 993 · night

A Quiet Stretch

Back at the cottage.

Kevin and Jenny sat on the porch as clouds thickened. Jenny checked the water test kit while Kevin watched her limp. The barometer held steady at 986 hPa. A turtle hauled out on the south beach to nest in the dark.

🔧 Kevin04:16

Kevin — sit on the porch step, roll a cigarette with trembling fingers, watch the cloud cover thicken over the south beach.

💭 peek at the thought

Night settles heavy. The radio's static is the only voice for miles. Jenny's asleep or pretending. My shoulder throbs from the mast climb. Tomorrow the supply boat comes — if the barometer's lying and the weather holds. I should check the Yanmar one more time before dawn. And the radio watch at 0800. The garden tarp's loose corner will need re-staking if the wind picks up. Pocket seven's fracture line keeps widening in my head.

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

🌿 Jenny04:17

You're shaking, Kev.

Lean back against the whitewashed wall, pulling the wool blanket tighter around my shoulders.

💭 peek at the thought

I can't even stand up without the world tilting. The throbbing in my ankle is syncing up with my heartbeat.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin04:18

Shoulder. Mast climb yesterday. Nothing new.

Take a drag, exhale slow through my nose. Don't look at her. Keep eyes on the tree line where the clouds swallow the hilltop.

💭 peek at the thought

She notices everything. Even in the dark. Even when I think I'm still.

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

🌿 Jenny04:19

Yeah. (Pause.) I'm not sleeping.

Shift my weight, the gauze bunching uncomfortably against my ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

Shoulder's nothing compared to what I can't lift anymore. The infection's spreading faster than I let on.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin04:20

The ankle keeping you up, or the boat?

Tap ash off the cigarette. Hold the pack out toward her without looking — silent offer.

💭 peek at the thought

Two people not sleeping. Two people pretending the other doesn't know.

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

🌿 Jenny04:21

Give me that. (Reach for the pack, fingers brushing his sleeve.) The boat's coming tomorrow. But I need to check the water.

Take the pack, crush the cigarette out in the sand with the heel of my hand, then walk toward the kitchen door where the water test kit sits.

💭 peek at the thought

The ankle, the boat, the catalogue gathering dust on the table I keep avoiding.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin04:22

Tank's 389. Spring ran clean at noon.

Watch her walk off. Listen to her footfall on the porch boards — the slight drag on the left. Wait. Then push up from the step, shoulder protesting, and follow her inside.

💭 peek at the thought

She crushed it. Didn't smoke it. Just wanted the motion. The water test kit — she's thinking about the tank, or the spring, or both. Barometer's been falling three days. 986 and steady now but that steady after a drop is worse than falling.

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.