the dock · day 180 · midday

The humidity breaks

You meet at the dock as the tide begins to turn, and the first heavy drops of rain hit the hot wood.

The midday heat is heavy over the dock as the pressure holds steady. Kevin checks the Yanmar engine's final assembly components while Jenny monitors the germinating heirloom seedlings in the shaded kitchen.

🌿 Jenny13:52

It's coming down. We need to get the sketches inside.

Tuck my notebook under my arm and start walking toward the cottage.

💭 peek at the thought

The pressure finally broke; I hope the trays are deep enough for a deluge.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin13:54

Dock's slick. Watch the rotten plank by the cleat.

Walk beside her toward the cottage, one hand hovering near the notebook in case she slips, the other checking the dinghy's stern line is fast as we pass.

💭 peek at the thought

The rain's starting proper now. My notebook's getting wet in her hands — she's protecting it better than I would. The dock planks I replaced are holding but the old stringers still groan underfoot. Four days until the supply boat. The letter to Tom sits on the kitchen table, unsigned still.

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

🌿 Jenny13:54

I know. I'm not blind.

Step over the slick timber, keeping my eyes fixed on the cottage door.

💭 peek at the thought

I see the rot, I don't need a reminder of the decay.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin13:56

Didn't say you were.

Follow her up the path, boots finding the stone steps without looking. The cottage door sticks in the jamb — shoulder it open and hold it for her.

💭 peek at the thought

She's not blind. She's not stupid either. She knows every soft spot on this dock better than I do — she's walked it more days than me these past months. The rain's coming down harder now, big drops that dust the wood and vanish. My shoulders are already wet.

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

🌿 Jenny13:56

Let's get the notebook dry first.

Step inside the kitchen and listen to the rain start to drum on the roof.

💭 peek at the thought

He's always so helpful when I'm already tired.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin13:58

Stove's still warm. Lay it on the mantel shelf.

Set the kettle on the stove, strike a match for the lamp even though it's midday. The light's going fast.

💭 peek at the thought

Kitchen smells of woodsmoke and boiled limpets and something else — paper drying, maybe, or the mint I hung yesterday. The notebook's pages are curling at the edges already. She moves like she lives here. Because she does. The letter to Tom sits on the table where I left it, face down. Hope she doesn't read it. Hope she does.

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

🌿 Jenny13:58

Thanks.

Place the notebook carefully on the mantel and wipe the condensation from the cover.

💭 peek at the thought

At least the sketches will survive.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin14:00

Tea?

Measure loose leaves into the pot — the good tin from the supply boat, not the dust from the crate. Pour water just off the boil. Set two mugs on the table. The letter stays face down under my palm.

💭 peek at the thought

She handles the notebook like it's something alive. The cover's warped from salt and humidity, pages fanning at the fore-edge. My sketches aren't much — sea beet morphology, tide pool zones, Carex counts — but they're the only record of this place that isn't in her head. The kettle sighs. Rain hammers the roof. Four days.

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.