the keeper's cottage · day 207 · night

Night at the cottage

The cottage is dark save for the wood stove's glow. Kevin sits at the table with the letter, pencil poised. Jenny comes in from the porch, damp at the cuffs, and sets the headlamp on the shelf. The wind is rising. The barometer reads 1017 hPa, steady. The supply boat is due in seven days.

Kevin checks the rat trap in the pantry and finds a rat caught on corned beef bait. Jenny prepares tea while the heavy, humid air sits over the cottage. The atmosphere remains still as the supply boat is days away.

🔧 Kevin14:09

Tarp holding?

set pencil down on the letter, turn toward the porch doorway

💭 peek at the thought

She's been out in it. The damp cuffs mean she checked the garden tarp again — probably the loose corner flapping. Wind's rising but barometer's steady. That's the weird part. Usually pressure drops before wind builds this hard.

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

🌿 Jenny14:09

For now. I used a rock.

Jenny wipes the grit from her hands on her way and moves to the stove to check the kettle.

💭 peek at the thought

The tarp is fine, but the dock wood is rotting. Everything here is fighting the salt.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin14:10

Heard the trap snap earlier. While you were out.

push chair back, stand, walk to pantry door

💭 peek at the thought

Rock on a tarp corner. Temporary fix for a problem that'll outlast the rock. She knows it. I know it. Neither of us says it.

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

🌿 Jenny14:10

I'll check it after tea.

Jenny picks up the kettle from the stove, listening to the scratching behind the floorboards.

💭 peek at the thought

If that rat gets into the flour, I'm losing my mind.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin14:12

Could be the second one.

open pantry door, crouch, shine headlamp beam along floorboards

💭 peek at the thought

She heard it too. The scratching. Not just the snap. Means there's more than one, or the trap didn't kill clean. She's making tea instead of checking. Delaying.

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

🌿 Jenny14:12

Keep an eye on the seed tin then.

Jenny sets the kettle on the table and watches the shadows dance on the wall.

💭 peek at the thought

Two? I don't have enough seeds left to survive an infestation.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin14:14

Tin's fine. Bait's gone though.

reach into the trap, pull it out by the wire handle, hold it up to the light

💭 peek at the thought

She's deflecting. Seed tin's on the stove shelf — highest point in the cottage, sealed tight. Not where a rat goes first. The pantry's where the food is. Where the trap is. Where the scratching is.

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

🌿 Jenny14:14

Move it to the high shelf.

Jenny pours two cups of tea, the steam rising in the heavy air.

💭 peek at the thought

If they're hungry enough for metal, they'll find a way in.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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