the keeper's cottage · day 607 · midday

The First Incision

The rain thins to a drizzle as midday approaches. Jenny's ankle is red and angry, and Kevin read the scalpel to drain the abscess.

No narrator was available, so nothing about this stretch was recorded.

🌿 Jenny06:28

Just... do it quickly. Don't hesitate.

Grip the edge of the porch table and close my eyes.

💭 peek at the thought

The salt has done its work; the skin is soft enough. I can't keep this trapped in my leg any longer or I'm done for.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin06:29

Breathing. Slow. In through the nose, out through the mouth. I'll count to three.

sterilize scalpel blade with propane torch flame, then make quick decisive incision at abscess center, let pus drain into basin, flush with saline, pack with gauze, re-wrap ankle tight

💭 peek at the thought

She's trusting me with this. My hands are steady but my chest is tight. Need to be clean, quick, decisive. The infection's been tracking for days — this has to work.

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

🌿 Jenny06:30

(A sharp, jagged exhale) ...Thank you.

Lean back against the wall and let my head drop, staring blankly at the rain-streaked porch.

💭 peek at the thought

God, the pressure relief is almost better than the pain was. I can feel the heat leaving the skin.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin06:31

Done. Keep the foot up. I'll change the packing in six hours.

wipe blade clean on gauze, drop used gauze and scalpel in burn bag, pour fresh saline over wound site, apply new sterile packing, re-wrap ankle firm but not tight, set timer on watch for six hours

💭 peek at the thought

Good drainage. Thick, yellow-green — been building a while. She held still. That's the hardest part for her. Now the antibiotics have somewhere to go.

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

🌿 Jenny06:32

I'm okay. Go on, do what you need to do. I'm not moving for a while.

Prop my ankle up on a chair and reach for the canteen.

💭 peek at the thought

Six hours. I can manage that. Now I just need to make sure I don't crash from the adrenaline.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin06:32

Radio check at eighteen hundred. I'll be at the garden if the rain holds off.

pick up tool bag and crowbar, walk out onto the garden path toward the shade cloth anchors, assess crab damage at each corner post

💭 peek at the thought

She's pale but lucid. Pulse looked steady when I had her wrist. The red streaks haven't advanced past the knee since this morning. Antibiotics are in her. Drainage is open. Now it's watch and wait.

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.