the keeper's cottage · day 805 · evening

The Decision to Call

Kevin enters the cottage and sees the state of Jenny's leg. The air is still and heavy.

Kevin examined Jenny's ankle and confirmed the infection had tracked past the knee, necessitating the decision to call for medevac. Jenny debrided the wound and applied a fresh sea beet and mint poultice while the heavy humid air sat still.

🌿 Jenny07:41

Don't touch it. I already changed the dressing once.

Jenny flinches as she shifts her weight, tightens the wrap with trembling fingers, her knuckles white.

💭 peek at the thought

It's moving. I can feel the heat radiating off the skin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:41

Show me.

walk to the bench, set down the wheelbarrow, sit on the edge facing her, reach for the wrap with steady hands

💭 peek at the thought

The red line's past the knee. She knows it. I know it. Four antibiotic doses left after tonight. The supply boat's nine days out if it comes at all. Medevac forms are in the ditch bag. Radio's working. This is the call.

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

🌿 Jenny07:43

It's just the heat. The poultice should be working.

Jenny pulls her leg back instinctively, her breath hitching as she looks at the floor instead of his hands.

💭 peek at the thought

He's going to see how bad it really is. The red line is high.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:43

Jen. Look at me.

hold her gaze, keep my hands where she can see them, wait

💭 peek at the thought

She's scared. So am I. But pulling back won't stop what's moving up her leg. I've seen this before — men who waited one tide too long.

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

🌿 Jenny07:45

Fine. Just be careful.

Jenny slowly lifts her eyes to meet his, her jaw tight as she lets him take the bandage.

💭 peek at the thought

If I look at him, I'll have to admit I'm failing.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:45

It's tracking past the knee. We're calling the medevac. Today.

unwrap the bandage slowly, peel back the gauze, examine the wound and the spreading red lines, reach for the pen to mark the new boundary

💭 peek at the thought

The skin's hot three inches above the knee now. Red streaks fanning toward the groin. Lymphangitic spread. The doxycycline and metronidazole aren't holding it. She needs IV antibiotics, fluids, a surgeon who can debride properly. She needs the mainland.

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

🌿 Jenny07:47

The seeds... I haven't even planted them yet.

Jenny goes very quiet, her eyes fixed on the pen tip as it touches her skin.

💭 peek at the thought

Nine days for the boat. I don't have nine days.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:47

You plant those seeds when you're back on your feet. I'll mark every row, stake every tomato, build the sensory garden you dreamt about. You come back to see it.

mark the infection boundary with the pen, draw a clean line at the new red streak limit, write "MED-EVAC DAY 9" beside it in the dirt with the pen tip

💭 peek at the thought

Her seeds. The grandmother's tin, the heirloom varieties, the ones we were going to grow in the north ridge beds. She's thinking about the future we never built. But she's thinking about herself first.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🌿 Jenny07:51

You'll ruin them. The salt air...

Jenny looks at the seed tin on the table, her hand hovering over the rusted metal.

💭 peek at the thought

He doesn't know the soil. He doesn't know what they need.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:51

I'll vacuum seal the lot. Dry bag. They'll wait.

reach for the seed tin, snap the lid tight, wrap it in the plastic tarp scrap and tape it shut, shove it into the dry bag by the loft ladder, grab the shortwave handset

💭 peek at the thought

She's bargaining. With the seeds, with the island, with me. Anything but the helicopter. The salt air won't kill those seeds in nine days — I'll seal the tin proper, stash it in the dry bag with the radio notebook. She's not dying on this rock over tomatoes.

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

🌿 Jenny07:53

Don't just leave them in a bag and forget.

Jenny watches him take the tin, her heart sinking faster than the tide.

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks it's just seeds. It's my whole life.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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