Day 618

Hold still. This'll sting.

debride the wound with the scalpel, flush with boiled seawater, apply fresh sea beet-garlic-pine poultice, rewrap with clean strips

Good drainage. Deeper than yesterday but clean underneath. Antibiotics are working.

flush the wound thoroughly with boiled seawater from the basin, pack the poultice deep into the incision and spread over the inflamed track up the calf, wrap tight with clean cloth strips

Done. Elevate it. Drink the broth on the stove.

secure the wrap with a final turn and tuck, check the tension isn't cutting circulation, set the cold damp cloth on her forehead, stand and move to the porch rail to scan the dock through the rain

Eat when you can. I'm taking the dinghy out at the ebb — hour, maybe two. Run the Yanmar at load, check the north piling while the water's down.

pull the oilskin from the hook, check the VHF battery one more time, walk down the garden path toward the dock

Copy. Engine test clean. Inspecting north piling now. Mortise wedges holding. Ring solid. What'd Tom's frequency give you?

wade to north piling, probe mortise face and oak wedges with fingers and crowbar, check for movement under hand pressure

Wedges tight. Ring's not moving. Greenheart sister knee solid. Coming in.

wade back to dinghy, climb aboard, start Yanmar, motor to dock, tie off, walk up garden path to cottage

Copy. Dock secure. Be right there.

step onto dock planks, secure dinghy stern line and bow line, walk fast up garden path to cottage porch, through door to Jenny

Give it here.

take the scalpel from her hand, set the first aid kit on the table, pull the tin mug of boiled seawater and the pine resin salve close

I know the anatomy. Hold still.

unwrap the poultice, peel back the gauze, examine the incision sites from yesterday — two still weeping, the third closed — then press two fingers along the hot track up her calf to where it kisses the knee joint, feeling for fluctuation

Breathe slow. I'm going in beside the patella. Medial side.

position the scalpel at the medial joint line, push through skin and fascia into the swollen capsule, let the pressure blow pus onto the gauze pad, then irrigate with the boiled seawater syringe, packing the wound open with pine-resin gauze

Going to the dock. Check the mooring ring and the north piling. Secure the dinghy for the blow. Back before full dark.

Walk down the path to the dock, pulling the oilskin hood up against the driving rain.

Aye. Greenheart's gone past the bolts. Scarfed the larch in. Four through-bolts. Ugly but holds. Your line? I see it. Knee's draining. That's the win today.

Pause at the top of the dock ramp, glancing back at the cottage window where she sits. Then step onto the wet planking, boots finding the familiar grip, moving toward the north piling first.

Kevin — reach the north piling. Crouch, fingers probing the scarf joint where larch meets greenheart — feeling for give, for rot creep past the epoxy line. Tap the through-bolts with the wrench handle. Listen for hollow.

Held the last blow. Four bolts, epoxy, larch scarf. She'll take it.

Stand, wiping rain from eyes. Walk the dock to the mooring ring — the oak wedges driven vertical, the steel doubler plate bolted through. Heave on the ring, testing. Check the chafe point where the stern spring leads to the dinghy.

Kevin — grab the doubled stern spring where it leads from the dinghy's aft cleat, round the mooring ring, back to the north piling. Run hands along the full length — feeling for chafe, for heat in the fibers, for salt crust eating the lay.

Wedges are vertical grain. Oak. Six driven. Plate's bolted. Ring's not going nowhere.

Crouch at the ring. Scrape salt crust with the knife tip, exposing the mortise edges. Probe the oak wedges — tap each with the wrench handle. Check the four 150mm through-bolts on the doubler plate. Nuts tight. No weep at the bolt holes.

Radio's working. Aerial held. I'll run a check on the hour.

walk into the cottage and set the kettle on the stove, then lift the shortwave's handset and tune to the trust's frequency

Trust frequency. This is Sorrel Island. Jenny's leg — cellulitis tracking above knee now. Lymphatic spread. Antibiotics eight days in, no arrest. Barometer 1007 rising but front due tonight. Water tank full. Food stores adequate. Requesting medevac guidance. Over.

hold the handset clear of the shattered aerial, wait for the crackle of reply, and watch Jenny's hand move across the page

Trust, Sorrel Island. Medevac request formal. Patient female, 38, sepsis lower limb tracking femoral. Temperature 39.2. Conscious but deteriorating. Sea state building force 7, gusting 9 by midnight. Window closing. Need extraction decision now. Over.

keep the handset keyed, knuckles white on the mic, the static eating the silence between words

Put the blade down. I'll do it. You hold the leg still.

take the scalpel from her grip, wipe it on the alcohol-soaked gauze, and position the point at the tightest, whitest stretch of skin above the knee where the pus wants to break

Breathing. Slow. In through the nose, out through the mouth. I'm starting.

drive the scalpel point into the fluctuant center of the abscess, let the pressure release, then widen the incision with a clean sweep to drain the joint capsule fully

Kevin — check the shortwave aerial connection at the mast base, then return to the bedroom with fresh sea beet poultice and water

Radio's out. Storm's too heavy for launch. But I've got the poultice fresh. And the antibiotics. You're not doing this alone.

sit on the edge of the bed, peel back the bandage, inspect the wound and lymphatic tracking up her thigh, apply fresh sea beet-garlic-pine resin poultice, rewrap clean, press water to her lips

You don't apologize for this. Not ever. I'm the one who should've seen it sooner. Should've made you rest. Should've built the damn garden.

take the index card from beside her hand, study her sketch in the lamplight, then set it down and pull the blanket higher over her shoulders, staying seated with my hand on her wrist