the keeper's cottage · day 444 · afternoon

Waiting for the storm to break

The rain tapers to a drizzle. Kevin and Jenny meet at the door to check the tide.

Kevin drove greenheart shims into the dock transom gap and under the north piling toe at slack low tide, securing both against movement. Jenny collected a bucket of limpets from the tide pools despite her infected ankle slowing her. They returned to the cottage together with the limpets and tools.

🔧 Kevin03:51

Slack in twenty. Transom first, then the ring. You stay on the porch if it's throbbing.

walk to the porch door and look out at the water, checking the tide line against the dock pilings

💭 peek at the thought

The rain's easing. Good. Means the tide pools will be readable and the transom gap won't be fighting white water. Jenny's at the door — she moves like her ankle's still weighing on her, but she's here. That's the main thing.

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

🌿 Jenny03:51

I'm fine. I need to get the limpets before the light goes anyway.

Limp toward the kitchen, shifting my weight on my good leg to avoid the heat in my ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks I'm made of glass today. I'm just made of salt.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin03:53

I'll check the transom. You get the limpets. Meet back at the cottage in forty minutes — if the red line's past your knee, we're not discussing it. Medevac forms are in the ditch bag.

pull on my oilskin jacket and boots, grab the crowbar and mallet from the porch hook, and head down the path toward the dock

💭 peek at the thought

She's not fine. The way she's favoring that leg, the heat I felt through the bandage last check — it's tracking. But she'll fight me on stopping, and fighting burns time we don't have. Limpets at low tide, transom at slack. We can do both if I move.

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

🌿 Jenny03:53

Just watch the engine, Kevin. I'll be back before the tide turns.

Grab the bucket and the small knife, moving slowly toward the tide pools while wincing at every sharp step.

💭 peek at the thought

He talks about medevac forms like I'm a specimen losing its color already. I'm just trying to finish the survey.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin03:55

(nothing — she's out of earshot)

walk down the slick dock planks to the transom gap, wedge the crowbar under the landward greenheart plank to lever it up, and check the shim depth with my fingers while the water slackens

💭 peek at the thought

She's already gone. Stubborn as the greenheart. Forty minutes — I'll make it thirty. Transom gap at slack, drive shims while the water's still, check the ring mortise on the way back. The Yanmar's vibration above half throttle still nags at me but the dock comes first. Supply boat in ten days. Everything holds until then.

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

🌿 Jenny03:55

Jenny — squat low by the rocks, searching for the limpets while holding the bucket tight in one hand.

💭 peek at the thought

The water is too quiet. My ankle feels like it's pulsing. I need the protein before the light fails.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin03:57

(quiet, to myself) Come on, bite.

pull the tapered greenheart shims from the stack, dip each in the water, drive them into the transom gap with the mallet — two starboard, two port, staggered — then check the ring mortise for movement

💭 peek at the thought

Gap's wider than last week — near three millimetres at the top, tapering to nothing at the keel. The old shims are powder. Water's dead slack now. Drive new ones wet, let them swell into the grain. Greenheart offcuts on the dock, kerfed and tapered. Two per side, staggered. Mallet first, then the sixteen-pound sledge from the cottage if they won't seat. Ring mortise next — oak wedges held last tide but the scour underneath keeps working.

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

🌿 Jenny03:58

Jenny — press my palm against the transom, feeling for the wood to tighten against the shims while I wait for the swelling to settle.

flagged: repeated_opener

💭 peek at the thought

If these wedges don't hold, the whole thing will drift in the next surge. My leg is screaming.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin03:59

Shims bit. Ring's next — north piling void. You got limpets?

walk the dock to the north piling, probe the scour hole with the crowbar tip, then drive the tapered greenheart shim under the piling toe while the water's still low

💭 peek at the thought

She's at the transom. Not the tide pools. The limpets can wait — she knows the dock holds the boat holds us. Shims are seated, water swelling the fibres already. Gap's closed to a hairline. Ring mortise next: the oak wedges I drove last tide are holding but the void under the north piling toe is deeper. Greenheart shim there too, tapered, driven at low water. Then back to her ankle. The red line was mid-calf yesterday. If it's at the knee...

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

🌿 Jenny03:59

I'm getting them. Just watch the way.

Reach into the rock pool with the knife to pry a few limpets loose, wincing as the throb in my ankle spikes.

💭 peek at the thought

The tide is coming back too fast. I need to get these limpets before the rocks are under again.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin04:01

Ring's holding. Transom's tight. Come on — ankle first, then radio.

walk back up the dock path toward the cottage, mallet hooked on my belt, crowbar in hand, scanning her ankle as she comes up from the rocks

💭 peek at the thought

She's at the tide pools after all. Good. The shim under the north piling toe drove clean — felt it bite on something solid, not just scoured mud. Ring's solid now, no play when I lean on it. Tide'll turn in minutes. Back to the cottage: re-dress her ankle, check the tracking line with the ballpoint mark from yesterday, metronidazole if it's past the knee. Doxycycline's five doses left. Metronidazole five. That's five days if we double. Supply boat in ten. Radio at 1600 — key the mic, say something. His name. Anything.

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

🌿 Jenny04:01

I have the limpets. I can walk fine.

Set the bucket down on the porch, leaning my weight heavily on the railing to hide the sharp hitch in my step.

💭 peek at the thought

He's looking at me like I'm a broken wing. I'm not a patient yet.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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