the keeper's cottage · day 441 · afternoon

Afternoon Rain Huddle

The rain continues to fall as the tide begins to turn. They meet under the porch roof to assess the water level and the drying heirloom seeds.

Kevin cleaned and dressed Jenny's infected ankle wound despite her resistance, while the heirloom seed packets were moved to dry on the warmed stone behind the stove. The barometer continued rising to 981 hPa as the tide came in.

🔧 Kevin01:11

Tank's near full. Another hour of this and we're good till autumn. Seeds?

walk to the porch table and check the heirloom seed packets spread on newspaper, lifting one to feel the paper's dryness

💭 peek at the thought

The rain's steady now, not squalling. Good. Means the barometer's honest. Seeds on the table look viable — tomato, pepper, the basil packets we separated. Jenny's ankle's wrapped clean. She's moving. That's the main thing.

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

🌿 Jenny01:11

They are still damp. I need to move them closer to the stove, away from the draft.

Jenny winces as she shifts her weight, reaching out to pull the seed tin away from Kevin's hand.

💭 peek at the thought

The humidity is too high; if these don't dry now, my grandmother's legacy will rot before it ever sees soil.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin01:13

Stove side's clear. I'll shift the wood rack so the heat hits the back wall. You take the tin — I'll hold the paper.

step to the wood rack by the stove and begin moving split logs to clear a space against the rear stone wall, keeping my movements slow and steady to avoid jarring the floor near her feet

💭 peek at the thought

She flinched when I moved — not the ankle, something deeper. She's guarding the seeds like they're the last thing we got right. I won't push. Just help where I can.

nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b

🌿 Jenny01:13

Be careful with the edges. The ink is still bleeding.

Jenny sits heavily on the kitchen chair, clutching the seed tin to her chest while she watches him move the wood.

💭 peek at the thought

He's being careful again. It makes it feel worse, like I'm a piece of glass he might drop.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin01:15

Edges clear. Rack's shifted. Heat'll hit the wall steady now.

finish clearing the wood rack against the back wall, then bring the newspaper sheets with the seed packets over and lay them flat on the warmed stone, smoothing each corner gently with the flat of my hand

💭 peek at the thought

Ink bleeding means she wrote on them recently. Labelling. Organising. She's been doing the quiet work while I've been out on the dock. The way she holds that tin — both arms wrapped tight — it's not just seeds she's protecting.

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

🌿 Jenny01:15

It's better there.

Jenny sets the tin on the table and rubs the swollen skin around her ankle, biting her lip.

💭 peek at the thought

The stone is getting warm, but the air is still so heavy. way own feels like it's pulsing with the tide.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin01:17

Let me look at it. Properly. Before the next dose.

pull the kitchen chair around to sit opposite her, setting the tin mug of hot water and clean gauze on the table between us, waiting without reaching for her leg

💭 peek at the thought

She's hurting more than she'll say. The ankle's swollen past the wrap. Infection's not gone — metronidazole's only had one dose. I should check the wound, change the dressing, but she'll wave me off if I ask. She always does.

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

🌿 Jenny01:17

It's just a strain. I caught it on the root.

Jenny slowly unwinds the makeshift bandage from her ankle, exposing the angry, shiny skin to the dim light of the kitchen.

💭 peek at the thought

If he sees how red it's getting, he'll call the boat. I can't have the boat yet.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin01:19

That's not a strain. Hold still.

pick up the tin mug of hot water and clean gauze, soak a corner, and begin gently wiping the wound edges from clean to dirty, watching for pus or necrotic tissue, keeping my touch light and steady

💭 peek at the thought

That's not a strain. Shiny, angry skin spreading past the bandage line — that's cellulitis tracking up the tendon sheath. She caught it on the spruce root yesterday, but the break's been festering longer. Doxycycline's in her, one dose down, five to go. Metronidazole for the anaerobic load. Need to flush, debride if there's pus, re-wrap tight with the antibiotic cream. She won't let me do it if I make a production of it.

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

🌿 Jenny01:19

It's fine, Kevin. Just a deep scratch.

Jenny pulls her leg back instinctively as the gauze touches her, her fingers white where she grips the seed tin.

💭 peek at the thought

He's going to see the heat. I can feel it coming off the skin from here.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin01:21

It's not fine. Skin's shiny to the mid-calf. That's tracking. You pull away, I can't clean it. You don't clean it, you lose the foot. Your call.

set the gauze down and stay seated, not reaching again, letting the silence sit heavy between us while the rain hammers the porch roof

💭 peek at the thought

She pulls back every time. The ankle, the radio, the letter in the supply boat bag — same reflex. I can't make her trust me if she won't let me close. But I can't let this go septic either. Metronidazole's in the pack, doxy's started. Need the wound open to air and medicine, not closed up in her stubbornness.

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

🌿 Jenny01:21

I can handle it. I just need rest.

Jenny slowly lets her leg drop, her breath doctoring as she reaches for the seed tin to cover the swelling.

💭 peek at the thought

He's being so clinical. own I'm a specimen on a board instead of his wife.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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