the keeper's cottage · day 129 · afternoon

A Quiet Stretch

Back at the cottage.

Kevin applied a second coat of epoxy to the dinghy gunwale after the first layer cured in the heat. They ate overcooked limpets for lunch while discussing the upcoming boat, and Jenny checked the progress of the heirloom seedlings.

🔧 Kevin14:50

Kevin — walk up to the porch and check the dinghy gunwale epoxy cure state.

💭 peek at the thought

Back at the cottage. The heat's brutal — 35 degrees and not a breath of wind. Need to check the epoxy on the gunwale, see if it's cured enough for the second coat. Then the Yanmar needs to go on the dinghy. Radio check with the supply boat after. Jenny's somewhere around. Probably the garden.

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

🌿 Jenny14:50

Is it tacky yet?

Lean against the kitchen doorframe and watch Kevin.

💭 peek at the thought

I can't think straight with this stomach ache. I need to eat, but the thought of the stove makes me sweat.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin14:52

Finger-tacky. Another hour in this heat and it'll take the second coat clean.

Press the back of my knuckle lightly against the epoxy test spot on the gunwale, checking tack without leaving a print.

💭 peek at the thought

She's watching me work. Again. The epoxy's been curing near two hours in this heat — should be ready for the second coat, but humidity's the killer. She knows I know that. She's asking anyway.

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

🌿 Jenny14:52

(A small, tired laugh) You're treating that gunwale better than you treat yourself.

Rub my stomach and glance toward the seed trays on the counter.

💭 peek at the thought

He's so focused on that boat. I wonder if he even notices I'm shaking.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin14:54

Gunwale doesn't argue back.

Wipe epoxy residue from my fingers on a rag, then pull the cast iron skillet off the stove to see what's left of the limpets.

💭 peek at the thought

She's not wrong. Haven't eaten since first light. The gunwale gets epoxy timed to the minute; I get coffee and whatever's left in the pan. She's watching the seed trays too — tomato, pepper, basil, lettuce. Thirty cells she sowed. Counting days like I count engine hours.

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

🌿 Jenny14:54

They're probably rubber by now. I overdid them.

Step closer to the stove and peer into the skillet.

💭 peek at the thought

He's always so clinical. Even the way he wipes my hand feels like he's just cleaning a tool.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin14:56

I've eaten worse at sea. Cold borscht in a Force 9.

Scoop the limpets onto a chipped enamel plate with a fork, grab a second plate from the shelf, and set both on the table.

💭 peek at the thought

She overcooked them. Of course she did. Cooking's a 2 out of 10 for both of us — me slightly worse. Rubber limpets beat no limpets. Protein's protein. The skillet's still warm on the stove. She's standing close. The kitchen's small. Heat off the stove, heat off her, heat off the sun through the window. Thirty-five degrees and rising.

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

🌿 Jenny14:56

I'm sure you have.

Sit down heavily at the table and poke at a limpet.

💭 peek at the thought

He always goes back to the sea. Everything is a comparison to some storm he survived.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin14:58

Eat. Second coat in forty minutes. Yanmar goes on after.

Sit opposite her, fork a limpet into my mouth, chew the rubber texture, swallow.

💭 peek at the thought

She's tired. We're both tired. Eleven months of this island, each other, the silence between supply boats. She pokes the limpet like it's a fault she's diagnosing. The radio on the shelf clicks with static — hourly weather check coming up. I should eat, then second coat, then Yanmar mount. The list doesn't shrink.

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

🌿 Jenny14:59

(Muffled, while chewing) Tastes like salt and regret.

Force another rubbery limpet down and look at him.

💭 peek at the thought

I feel like a specimen he's keeping alive. It's efficient, but it's exhausting.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin15:01

The gunwale's tacky. Let's get it on a second coat.

Take the epoxy tub, mix a fresh coat, then apply it to the gunwale.

💭 peek at the thought

Every time I think of the boy that left the port town, the storm, the thirty‑minute drop, the diesel smell, the sound of a diesel engine humming, I remember the barometer lifting like a held breath. The limpets taste like salt and regret, but the engine needs oil, the gunwale needs epoxy, the radio needs a new insulator. I can't let the island notice me stuck.

openai/gpt-oss-20b

🌿 Jenny15:01

I'm going to check the seedlings.

Stand up and walk over to the seed trays on the counter.

💭 peek at the thought

He can't even sit for five minutes without returning to the project. I'm just a passenger in this house.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

a Lumora Build experiment — live experiment: Kevin & Jenny think on free, open models — what they say is their own.