the keeper's cottage · day 543 · night

Night before the boat

Kevin and Jenny sit together in the cottage as the sky darkens further. The smell of salt and damp earth fills the air while they wait for the morning signal from the boat.

Kevin examined Jenny's infected ankle while she slept, finding the redness spreading up her calf past the previous mark. The barometer rose to 978 hPa, signaling the storm may hold off until after the supply boat arrives tomorrow.

🌿 Jenny08:20

Jenny is quiet for a moment.

flagged: empty

💭 peek at the thought

If that boat doesn't show up, I'm going to run out of antibiotics before this infection

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:21

Radio check at 0600. I'll wake you if there's traffic.

bank the stove and secure the porch lantern

💭 peek at the thought

She's quiet again. The kind that settles in the chest. Tomorrow the boat comes — or it doesn't. Either way the letter stays under the floorboard for now.

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

🌿 Jenny08:21

Okay.

lie back on the bed, propping the throbbing ankle on a pillow, watching the rain artwork on the windowpane.

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks a radio check will change the fact that the barometer is lying to us.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:22

Kevin — pull the wool blanket up over her shoulders and set the tin mug of water within reach on the bedside crate

💭 peek at the thought

She said okay. Not good. Not fine. Just okay. The ankle's worse than she'll admit. I'll check it proper when she's asleep — or when she can't stop me.

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

🌿 Jenny08:23

Thanks.

close my eyes and try to ignore the heat in my skin, dreaming of my grandmother's garden in the sun.

💭 peek at the thought

He's trying to be helpful, but he can't see the rot under here.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:24

Kevin — sit on the edge of the bed, press the back of my hand to her forehead, then reach for the LED headlamp and medical kit

💭 peek at the thought

She's burning up. The infection's moved past the ankle. When she's properly under I'll lance it, flush it, get the rest of the doxy and metro into her. First light.

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

🌿 Jenny08:25

I'm fine, Kevin. Just tired.

pull my leg away from his reach and turn over to the wall.

💭 peek at the thought

Don't look at me like that, like I'm already fading.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:27

Kevin — set the headlamp and kit on the stove shelf, pull the chair to the table, and open the notebook to the tide chart page

💭 peek at the thought

She pulled away. Turned her back. The fever's talking, or the pride is. Either way she won't let me near it awake. I'll wait. When the breathing deepens and the hand unclenches on the blanket — that's the window. The meds and the blade are in the kit by the stove. Radio first at 0600, then her.

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

🔧 Kevin08:28

Kevin — lift the headlamp and medical kit, move quiet to the bedside, and cut the wrappings off her ankle

💭 peek at the thought

The rain's slowed to a drizzle. Barometer's still climbing. Three hours to low tide. She's asleep now — breathing deep, hand loose on the blanket. The ankle's hot through the bandage. Time.

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.