the keeper's cottage · day 674 · midday

Midday Treatment

The air inside the cottage is still and smells of dried wood. Kevin prepares the saline and antiseptic while Jenny braces for the cleaning of the wound.

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

🔧 Kevin19:55

Got the saline warm. This'll sting less than the boiled seawater. Brace on the table edge.

set out the saline bottle, antiseptic cream, clean gauze, and scalpel on the kitchen table beside Jenny's propped leg; pull up the stool and sit facing her ankle

💭 peek at the thought

She's holding her breath already. Good — means she's ready. The swelling's dropped some since morning but the heat's still there, tracking faint along the calf. Need to work quick before the tide turns and I lose the light through the window.

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

🌿 Jenny19:57

Just get it over with. I don't want to watch you do it.

Grab the edge of the wooden table and squeeze, eyes much, knuckles turning white against the grain.

💭 peek at the thought

The streaks are moving today. If I don't get this clean now, I won't be walking to the ridge tomorrow.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin19:57

First pass is just flushing. No blade yet. Look at the ceiling beam — count the knots. Three, two, one.

tilt the saline bottle and pour a steady stream over the wound, letting the runoff catch in the basin beneath her heel; watch the pink water swirl and clear

💭 peek at the thought

She's been through worse than this and we both know it. The white-knuckle grip tells me she's fighting the reflex to pull away — that's the part that tears tissue. I'll talk her through each cut so there's no surprise.

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

🌿 Jenny19:59

There. Okay... just keep going.

Close eyes tight and focus on a single knot in the wood above, breathing through my nose to

💭 peek at the thought

It's cold. God, the water is so cold way to the heat in my skin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin19:59

Blade now. Two quick scrapes, then I pack it. Keep counting knots.

take the sterilized scalpel and gently scrape the necrotic fringe from the wound margins, working methodically from the center outward; wipe the blade on gauze between passes

💭 peek at the thought

Good. She's got a rhythm. The wound bed looks cleaner now — less slough, granulation tissue pink and bleeding sluggish. That's progress. The red line up the calf hasn't advanced since morning. Antibiotics are holding. Now the debridement proper — pick out the dead edges so the healthy tissue can knit.

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

🌿 Jenny20:01

Fast, Kevin. Please.

Bite down on my lip to keep the sound back, fingers digging into the table wood.

💭 peek at the thought

It's deep. I can feel the metal against the way.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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