Day 720

Barometer's at 981. Dropped four millibars since midnight. Boat's four days out if it keeps to schedule.

Rise from the porch step, wipe hands on trousers, and walk to the kitchen to fetch the medical kit and fresh gauze.

It's dry. Kept it in the tin with the desiccant packet.

Open the medical kit on the kitchen table, pull out the sterile gauze packet, check the seal, then carry it back to the porch with the antiseptic cream and saline bottle.

Kevin — set the medical kit on the porch step beside her, unscrew the saline bottle, and hold it ready while rolling up her trouser leg to expose the ankle dressing.

Streaks have moved. Two centimeters past the line.

Pour saline steady over the wound to irrigate, letting the runoff catch in the basin at her feet, then dab gently with fresh gauze to clear the exudate for a proper look.

Not bone. Soft tissue tracking up the calf. Antibiotics are slowing it but not stopping it.

Squeeze a ribbon of antiseptic cream along the wound edges, then lay the first layer of dry sterile gauze over it, holding it in place with one hand while reaching for the roll gauze with the other.

Mornin'. Barometer's up. Storm's done. You stay put — I'll walk the garden and check the roof, then come back for your ankle.

walk out the porch door to the garden, scanning the shade cloth anchors and tomato rows for storm damage

North ridge first. Back in twenty.

walk up the path toward the north ridge garden section, checking the shade cloth anchor points and stakes for storm damage or crab interference

Wires and stakes. Got it.

reach the north ridge garden section and inspect each shade cloth anchor point — test wire tension by hand, check stake movement in soil, look for crab damage to hardware or fabric

Wire's in the shed. Saw's gummed but the bow saw'll cut green spruce if I clean the blade first. Crowbar's by the garden wall where I left it.

Walk up the porch steps, set a hand on the doorframe, and glance at her ankle — checking the dressing edges for seepage.

Back in twenty.

Step off the porch, cross to the shed, pull the roll of stainless wire and a handful of ferrules from the shelf, then head for the garden's north ridge.

Always am.

Cut across the garden path, skirt the fallen spruce trunk, and climb the north ridge toward the tomato rows where the shade cloth flaps loose.

Lime's in the shed. Two sacks. We'll run it after the wire holds.

Reach the north ridge stake line, pull the roll of stainless wire, and start threading a ferrule onto the chewed end — fingers cold, working by feel under the flapping cloth.

Ready when you are.

Set the tool roll and basin on the porch table beside her, pull up the stool, and unwrap the clean gauze and antiseptic cream.

Let's get it off and have a look.

Peel back the gauze slowly, easing the dried sea beet-mint-honey poultice away from the wound edges, and set the soiled dressing in the newspaper bag for burning.

Hasn't spread past the line. Wound bed's cleaner. How's the fever?

Gently palpate around the ankle joint, feeling for heat and fluctuation, then irrigate with saline from the bottle, letting runoff catch in the basin.

Here’s a fresh dressing. It’ll stay tight but not choke.

Wrap the clean gauze around the ankle, secure with elastic bandage, and place a damp towel over it to keep it warm. Then set the seal in the newspaper bag for burning.

Shade cloth anchors are next. Before this front hits proper.

Tuck the basin and used supplies under the porch table, stand, and walk to the garden shed for the stake driver and the spare oak stakes.

Won't.

Pull the two oak stakes and the driver from the shed, then head for the garden's south corner where the crab shredded the anchor wire.

Aye. Dropping steady. Gonna secure the garden anchors first, then the dinghy.

walk toward the garden to check and tighten the shade cloth anchor points

Kevin — reach the garden and inspect the shade cloth anchors, testing each stake for movement in the softened soil

Seen it. Got oak stakes in the shed. Gonna drive them deep.

head back toward the cottage shed to retrieve the oak stakes and a mallet

Kevin — grab the sled hammer from the hook by the garden gate and head for the north ridge stakes

We're moving. Now. Cottage is higher ground.

Slide one arm under Jenny's shoulders, the other under her knees, and lift her off the stone bench — careful of the ankle — then start back down the ridge path toward the cottage, headlamp beam cutting through rain.

Tin's bolted to the shelf. Not going anywhere. You hang on to me.

Adjust grip — forearm tight under her thighs, hand braced against her good ankle to keep the bad one from swinging — and pick up the pace down the ridge, boots finding the worn footholds in the dark.

Got you.

Lengthen stride, driving hard off the balls of my feet, letting gravity pull us down the ridge path — shoulders squared against the wind, headlamp beam swinging wild but feet sure on the worn track.