the keeper's cottage · day 443 · night

The Calm Before the Surge

Kevin and Jenny wait in the dim light as the first heavy drops of rain hit the dust dust.

Kevin and Jenny sit at the kitchen table as the rain hammers against the roof. Kevin steadies Jenny's hand while she tries to sketch the sea beet, noting her shaking from the fever. Jenny swallows two doses of metronidazole, watching the barometer pressure continue to drop.

🔧 Kevin03:17

Dock lines holding?

Walk to the porch door and look out at the dock, checking the mooring ring and lines in the failing light.

💭 peek at the thought

Storm's here. Barometer's been dropping all day. Need to check the dock lines one more time before full dark — if the ring shifts under surge, the greenheart sister plank won't hold on that scoured void.

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

🌿 Jenny03:19

They're holding for now, but the tide is high.

Trace the red line on my ankle with a finger, then grimace as the infection throbs.

💭 peek at the thought

The pressure is dropping too fast; if that boat doesn't show now, we're going to be trapped in the surge.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin03:19

Take the metronidazole. Both doses.

Turn back into the kitchen, pull the blister pack from the first aid kit, tap out two metronidazole tablets and a doxycycline, set them on the table with a tin mug of water.

💭 peek at the thought

Her ankle's angry. Red tracking past the dressing. Antibiotics started but it's early. She won't say how bad it hurts.

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

🌿 Jenny03:21

I know.

Swallow the pills with a painful gulp, then look at the sea beet sketches on the table.

💭 peek at the thought

He treats me like another piece of the Yanmar engine he needs to tighten a bolt to stop a leak.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin03:21

Sketches look good.

Pull out the chair opposite her and sit, knees stiff, listening to the rain hammer the roof.

💭 peek at the thought

Sketches are drying. Salt glands detailed. She's memorizing them like she memorizes everything — quiet, thorough. The storm'll test the garden tarps, the dock, the radio aerial. She knows this.

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

🌿 Jenny03:23

They need more de-salting.

Pick up a pencil and start shading the cell structure of the sea beet, my hand shaking slightly.

💭 peek at the thought

They're just sketches; the salt is already eating the paper before I can finish them.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin03:23

Your hand.

Reach across the table, cover her drawing hand with mine, steady it.

💭 peek at the thought

Hand's shaking. Cold? Pain? The antibiotics haven't touched the infection yet. She draws through it. Always draws through it.

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

🌿 Jenny03:25

It's just the fever.

Let the pencil rest against the paper and look at the barometer as it drops another point.

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks he can steady the world, but the infection is still moving up my shin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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