the keeper's cottage · day 703 · morning

Morning Day 704

You and Jenny meet at the cottage as the sun rises, checking the horizon for the supply boat's signal.

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

🌿 Jenny11:02

Sky's clear, but the wind is picking up from the south.

Lean against the way post, squinting against the glare on the water.

💭 peek at the thought

If that boat doesn't show up, we'll be out of antibiotics and have no way to fix this leg.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin11:02

South wind means swell in the cove by midday. High tide tomorrow's 1030. They'll need slack to work the crane. Window's tight.

walk up to the porch and set a hand on the rail, scanning the horizon

💭 peek at the thought

Wind's backing south. That'll push a swell into the cove by afternoon. If the supply boat comes in on the high tide tomorrow, they'll need slack water to work the crane — and that window's tight with a south wind behind it.

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

🌿 Jenny11:03

Then we better have everything staged by dawn tomorrow. I don't have time for a second trip.

Shift my weight off my ankle, my jaw tightening as a sharp spike of pain flares.

💭 peek at the thought

If the swell gets too high, they won't even get the dinghy to the dock.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin11:03

Medicines in the ditch bag. Letter to Tom. Seed tin E. Your notebook. Spare impeller. Radio log. What else?

turn from the rail and walk back toward the cottage door, glancing at her ankle

💭 peek at the thought

She's favouring the left ankle again. The red line hasn't crossed the tattoo but the swelling's not gone down like it should by day three. She won't say it's worse. She'll just keep moving.

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

🌿 Jenny11:05

The seed tin. And the sketches. I'm putting them in the waterproof bag.

Reach for the tin on the kitchen table, my fingers trembling slightly as I touch the cold metal.

💭 peek at the thought

I forgot the grandmother's seeds. I can't leave them behind if the boat fails.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin11:05

Tin's heavy. Take the canvas roll too — wrap it before the bag. Keeps the condensation off the lid.

step inside the cottage and pull the heavy canvas roll from the shelf, setting it on the table beside the tin

💭 peek at the thought

Her hands are shaking. Not cold. Not fear. Something deeper — the weight of what that tin means. Eleven months of seeds, of sketches, of refusing to let this place take anything else from her. She's not leaving it.

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

🌿 Jenny11:07

Right. I'll double-wrap it.

Lay the canvas around the seed tin, my movements slow to avoid the throbbing in my leg.

💭 peek at the thought

If the seeds get damp, they'll rot before I even find a patch of soil that works.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin11:07

I'll load the ditch bag in the dinghy tonight. You stage the rest here. Don't carry the tin down the dock yourself.

pick up the wrapped tin, testing its weight, and set it into the dry bag already sitting on the table

💭 peek at the thought

She's moving like every step costs. The ankle's hot to the touch even from here. Three days of antibiotics and the infection's still holding ground. If the supply boat doesn't come tomorrow — if the wind shifts, if the swell's too big, if the crane cable parts — she doesn't have another two weeks of pills in her.

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

🌿 Jenny11:09

I know. I'll have the rest ready on the porch.

Pull the drawstring of the bag around the tin, making sure the edges are tight.

💭 peek at the thought

He's right. I can barely walk across the kitchen floor without the world tilting.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin11:09

Midnight tide. I'll check the new planks. You take the second dose at 0200.

zip the dry bag closed and set it on the floor by the door, then pull the medevac forms from the shelf and add them to the bag

💭 peek at the thought

She's not arguing. That's the part that sits wrong — she's too practical to fight me on it, but too proud to ask for help carrying it. The tin goes in the bag, the bag goes in the dinghy, the dinghy goes to the supply boat. Simple. Unless the swell's running six foot and the crane can't reach. Unless the boat doesn't come at all.

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.