Days

Dawn found Kevin on the porch steps, tapping the barometer. "988 and steady. High's holding." Jenny adjusted her bandage at the table. "The crabs got to them again, didn't they?" H…

Dawn found Kevin kneeling by the stone wall, testing the epoxy on the spruce spar. It was still tacky. Jenny sat on a flat rock, rewrapping her ankle, watching the grey tide creep …

At dawn Kevin worked the come-along on the fallen spruce trunk near the garden wall while Jenny sat on a stone adjusting her ankle wrap and watching the overcast clouds. She warned…

Dawn broke under thickening cloud. Kevin hooked the come-along to the fallen spruce trunk blocking the main walkway while Jenny sat on a crate, wrapping her ankle and watching the …

Dawn found Jenny on the porch step, ankle propped on a crate, watching the horizon. Kevin checked the barometer — 978 hPa and falling — then walked the dock at high tide. The shing…

Dawn found Jenny on the porch step wrapping her ankle while Kevin checked the barometer: 986 hPa, holding. The air was heavy and still. Kevin took the dinghy out to test the Yanmar…

Dawn found Kevin and Jenny at the garden wall where water pooled against the stones. The barometer read 984 hPa and falling. "The drainage is blocked, Kevin. We need to clear the s…

Rain drummed the cottage roof at dawn, the barometer stuck at 991 hPa. Kevin folded the trust's letter into a dry bag. "Morning. Barometer holding. I'll head out at first light — w…

Dawn found Kevin on the bed's edge, tapping the barometer. "Barometer's holding at 992. Steady for six hours now. Might actually hold." Rain lashed the shutters. Jenny lay back, an…

Dawn found Kevin on the porch watching the barometer drop as clouds thickened over Sorrel Island. Inside, Jenny kept her ankle submerged in the salt basin while sorting heirloom se…

Rain drummed the roof at dawn, the water tank brimming at four hundred litres. Kevin checked the dinghy's aft shroud tension on the porch while Jenny soaked her ankle in a salt bas…

The barometer dropped to 1004 hPa as the sky thickened to a heavy grey. Kevin sat at the kitchen table watching the needle while the air remained dead still. 'Barometer's climbing …

Dawn tide pushed a salt-crusted crate against the dock pilings. Kevin let the rising water lift it onto the new greenheart planking while Jenny held the crowbar steady. "Won't pull…

Dawn broke low and grey. Kevin crouched on the porch step, aligning through-bolts as the tide receded. "Tide's right. Let's get them seated before it turns," he said. Jenny sat on …

Dawn found Kevin at the workbench with the Yanmar hydraulic ram sleeve clamped in the vise, micrometer in hand, measuring the bore for final fit. On the porch step, Jenny peeled ba…

Dawn found Kevin on the sistered beam, wiping the Yanmar sleeve and watching the mooring tension as the tide fell fast, baring the sandbar near the dock. The air hung thick, but th…

Warm rain drummed the corrugated roof as the tide receded, exposing salt-crusted rocks. Jenny sat on a piling, bracing her swollen ankle against a basin of salt water while Kevin p…

The barometer on the wall sat at 996 hPa at dawn. Kevin stood under the porch roof, rasping a file against bronze stock clamped in the vice. He was measuring for a Yanmar hydraulic…

Dawn found Kevin driving oak stakes through the garden tarp while Jenny wrapped fresh mint around her swollen ankle on the stone wall, watching the barometer. The tide was out, exp…

Dawn found Kevin at the dinghy checking mooring lines while Jenny sat on a dock plank sorting sea beet seeds into newspaper packets, a mint poultice on her swollen ankle. She decli…