the keeper's cottage · day 611 · midday

The approaching front

Kevin and Jenny are inside the cottage as the first heavy drops of rain hit the tarp roof.

Kevin heads to the dock to secure the dinghy as the pressure drops rapidly, while Jenny stays in the cottage to monitor the spreading infection on her ankle and track the rising fever.

🔧 Kevin10:43

Shutters first. Then the dinghy. You stay put.

move to the porch door, unhook the storm shutters from their cleats, and begin hauling them across the window frames

💭 peek at the thought

The barometer's still rising but the sky's gone the colour of bruised slate. Storm's moving faster than the glass said it would. Need to get the shutters battened proper and check the dinghy lines one more time before the wind picks up. Jenny's running hot — 39.1 and climbing. Last metronidazole dose was this morning. If the supply boat doesn't show in the next twelve hours, we're past the window for anything but riding it out.

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

🌿 Jenny10:47

The pressure is dropping too fast, Kevin. Check the radio one last time before you go to the boat.

Sit up on the cot, wincing as the movement shifts my calf, and reach for the notebook.

💭 peek at the thought

He's moving too fast; the wind is going to catch the wood before he can bolt it down.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:47

Back in five.

cross to the radio shelf, flip the power switch, pick up the handset, and call on Channel 16: "Sorrel Island, Sorrel Island, Sorrel Island. Keeper's cottage. Position five-one-two-three North, zero-zero-eight-seven West.

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. Pressure's falling faster than the barometer shows — can feel it in the sinuses, the old fracture in my ribs. Radio check won't take a minute. If the supply boat's out there, they'll be on sixteen listening for weather. If not... still need to log the attempt.

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

🌿 Jenny10:55

Jenny — watch the needle on the radio,, then trace the red streaks on my thigh with a trembling finger.

💭 peek at the thought

Static. Just the static and the rain on the tarp.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:55

Nothing on sixteen. Going to the dock.

set the handset back in its cradle, grab the oilskin from the hook, pull it on, and head out the porch door toward the dock

💭 peek at the thought

Nothing. Not even static worth naming. Either the boat's not out there, or their radio's dead, or the storm's already swallowing the signal. Log it. Move. The dinghy's the only way off this rock if it comes to that, and she won't survive a crossing in this state. But the mooring's only as good as the lines holding it.

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

🌿 Jenny10:57

Don't go too far from the line of sight!

Pull the notebook onto my lap, open a fresh page, and start sketching the new boundary of the infection on my leg.

💭 peek at the thought

If he goes out in that gust, the dinghy is lost.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:57

Forty metres. I'm not swimming.

pull the porch door shut behind me, brace against the wind, and walk down the path to the dock, hood up, eyes on the dinghy's lines

💭 peek at the thought

She's tracking the spread like she's surveying a coastline — precise, clinical, writing the map of what's eating her. The notebook's become the only witness. Dock's forty metres. I'll be in sight the whole way. Wind's already gusting thirty, maybe thirty-five. Rain hitting horizontal. Need to check the stern spring, the bow line, the storm anchor warp. If the mooring ring holds, the dinghy rides it out. If it doesn't...

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

🌿 Jenny10:59

Watch the lines, Kevin!

Lean back against the cot frame, wiping sweat from my eyes, and watch him through the window.

💭 peek at the thought

The wind is picking up too much for the shutters; he's going to get soaked.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:59

Lines are holding. Stern spring singing. Bow line good. Storm anchor set. Ring's solid.

grip the wet gunwale, crouch to check the chafe points where the lines bite the cleats, then stand and scan the mooring ring mortise for any fresh movement

💭 peek at the thought

She's watching through the glass like I'm the one taking on water. Dock's slick. Wind's steady forty now, gusts taking the rain sideways. Dinghy's dancing but the lines are singing — stern spring tight, bow line with proper slack, storm anchor warp holding her head to wind. Good. The bronze sleeve I machined for the prop shaft's still true. Engine'll start if we need it. Mooring ring's the weak point — oak wedges in the mortise, greenheart doubler plate, four fifteen-millimetre through-bolts. Held through the last blow. This one feels meaner.

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

🌿 Jenny11:01

Get inside before it really breaks!

Press the pencil to the paper, drawing the jagged edge of the red streaks near my knee.

💭 peek at the thought

He's fine, but the sky is turning a color I don't like.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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