the keeper's cottage · day 701 · afternoon

High Tide preparations

The tide has reached its peak against the dock pilings. You and Jenny retreat inside as the sun begins to dip.

The heat is oppressive as the sky thickens, signaling a change in weather. Kevin and Jenny spend the afternoon inside the cottage, preparing for the coming supply boat while managing Jenny's persistent infection.

🔧 Kevin08:24

Kettle's on. Want the last of the corned beef broth?

walk to the stove and set the kettle on the wood burner, then pull two tin mugs from the shelf

💭 peek at the thought

Good. The joints held at full tide. No seep at the sister brace, no movement on the south piling. She's favouring the left leg still but the swelling's down from this morning. Radio check in an hour — if the supply boat's captain answers, we'll have a window. If not, we wait.

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

🌿 Jenny08:25

Please. I'm too tired to chew.

sink into the kitchen chair, propping my swollen ankle up on a crate to relieve the pressure.

💭 peek at the thought

My ankle is thumping in time with my heart, and the smell of the salt is making me dizzy.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:26

Kevin — ladle the remaining broth into both mugs, set one in front of her and take the other to the table, then sit opposite with the radio log open

💭 peek at the thought

She's done. Three days of fever and that ankle, and she's still tracking the tide lines in her head. I'll let the broth do the work.

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

🌿 Jenny08:27

Is the boat actually on schedule? Or are they drifting again?

wrap both hands around the warm mug, letting the heat seep into my palms.

💭 peek at the thought

He looks so focused on that log, while I'm just trying not to scream from the heat.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:28

Three days at high tide. Two-hour window. Captain acknowledged on 2182. But the barometer's 1006 and falling — front's pushing southwest. They'll try the crossing but they won't risk the boat.

tap the radio log page where the ETA's written, then take a slow sip of broth

💭 peek at the thought

She's asking straight. No softening. Three days out at high tide, two-hour window — that's what the captain gave us on 2182. But the front's building southwest and the barometer's dropped four millibars since dawn. Could turn them back. Could delay a week.

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

🌿 Jenny08:29

If they don't show up, I'm out of antibiotics by Friday.

wince as the broth brushes the edge of my ankle, shifting my leg away from the heat.

💭 peek at the thought

Three days. If that boat doesn't come, this infection is going to reach the bone.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:31

The cache is buried at the spring. Fourteen of each. Sealed in oilcloth. Enough to finish the course twice over.

set the mug down and pull the notebook closer, flipping to the page with the spring coordinates pencilled in the margin

💭 peek at the thought

She's counting. Friday's four days. Medevac forms are signed in the ditch bag. VHF works line-of-sight to the coast guard station if the weather holds. But if the front stalls, the helicopter won't launch. I have the buried cache — fourteen doxycycline, fourteen metronidazole, sealed in oilcloth. Didn't tell her. Haven't decided if I will.

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

🌿 Jenny08:31

I hope the tin stayed dry. The humidity has been hell this week.

look down at the broth, watching the steam rise and fog up my glasses.

💭 peek at the thought

He's always counting the contingencies, like he can math his way out of a storm.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:34

The cache tin's sound. I checked the seal before I buried it. The tin on the shelf — E — that one's compromised. Sides corroded through. Lid's sealed but the metal's gone.

reach up and wipe a smudge of soot from the radio casing, fingers brushing the aerial lead where the insulator shattered

💭 peek at the thought

Oilcloth and a tin with a sound lid, buried thirty centimetres down in sandy soil above the high water mark. It'll be dry. But she's asking about the seed tin on the shelf — the one marked E. The one Tom's letter sat beside. She knows I know she knows.

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

🌿 Jenny08:35

I should have moved them months ago. I was too tired.

run my hand over my swollen ankle, the throbbing pulsing in sync with the heat.

💭 peek at the thought

My grandmother's seeds. I think I can smell the rot even through the tin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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