the keeper's cottage · day 566 · night

A Quiet Stretch

Back at the cottage.

The air is heavy and still, the 26°C heat of the wet season settling. The tide is slowly receding from the shore, exposing slick rocks and trapped tide pools. Inside the cottage, the smell of drying sea beet and antiseptic fills the space.

🔧 Kevin06:44

Kevin — walk into the kitchen, set the kettle on the wood stove, check generator oil level with dipstick

💭 peek at the thought

Back inside. Hands cold. Need to check the generator oil before I forget. And the radio — still dead. Might as well warm the kettle while I'm at it.

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

🌿 Jenny06:45

Don't forget the tea. I can't taste anything right now anyway.

Lean heavily against the kitchen table and slowly pull the antibiotic blister pack toward me.

💭 peek at the thought

My head is swimming. The fever is making the walls feel like they're breathing, but I can't let him see how light-headed I am.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin06:46

Tea's coming. Generator oil's full — topped it off yesterday.

pour hot water into two tin mugs, drop a tea bag in each, set one in front of Jenny

💭 peek at the thought

She's still not tasting. That's the metronidazole talking, or the infection, or both. She's taking the antibiotics regular now at least. Kettle's heating.

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

🌿 Jenny06:47

Thanks.

Wrap fingers around the warm mug and stare at the red line on my ankle, tracing it with a fingertip.

💭 peek at the thought

He's in his "maintenance" mode. Check the oil, fix the leak, boil the water. He treats me like another piece of equipment that just needs the right lubricant to stop squeaking.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin06:49

It's holding. No heat today.

sip tea, watch her fingertip trace the line, then gently cover her hand with mine for a second before pulling back to check the radio shelf

💭 peek at the thought

The red line's faded but still there. She's checking it like she did every morning for weeks. I don't flinch anymore when she touches it. Not much to say — she knows I'm watching it too.

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

🌿 Jenny06:49

It's holding for now.

Take a small sip of tea and look toward the porch to see if the seed packets are still dry.

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks he's being gentle, but it feels like he's checking a gauge. He doesn't understand that the heat isn't the only thing that's scary.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin06:51

Packets were dry at dawn. Tin's still weeping. Need to swap the newspaper lining again before dark.

glance toward the porch through the kitchen window, finish tea, set mug down and pull the spare newspaper bundle from the shelf

💭 peek at the thought

She's right — holding for now is all we get. The packets on the porch were dry to touch this morning. Tin's still damp underneath though. Mold's patient.

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

🌿 Jenny06:51

I'll do it. I can limp out there.

Set the mug down and attempt to stand up, gripping the edge of the table for balance.

💭 peek at the thought

Weeping. He uses the word like it's a structural failure. I can't let those seeds rot; they're the only thing on this island that actually belongs to me.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

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