the keeper's cottage · day 883 · midday

Midday Heat

The heat intensifies as the sun reaches its peak behind the clouds. The tide is now high against the dockings.

The midday sun is heavy on the cottage as the light onshore breeze carries the scent of salt. Kevin returns from the spring with two buckets of water, carefully soaking the seedling trays and the heirloom rows while Jenny sits on the porch, slowly consuming the remaining limpets from a tin mug and watching the garden in the heat.

🔧 Kevin00:12

Kevin — wipe sweat from brow, set plane aside, walk to the spring for water

💭 peek at the thought

The heat's pressing down hard now. Wood's swelling worse by the minute. Shutters won't plane clean in this — they'll bind again before I even get them hung. Should've started at dawn.

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

🌿 Jenny00:13

Bring some for the seedlings too. They're flagging.

stand up slowly and limp toward the stove to check the limpets.

💭 peek at the thought

He's avoiding the radio. He's avoiding me. The limpets are getting cold in the pot and my stomach is cramping.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin00:14

Aye.

fill two buckets at the spring, carry them back to the garden, water the seedling trays first then the heirloom rows

💭 peek at the thought

She's moving better than yesterday. Ankle's holding.

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

🌿 Jenny00:14

Jenny — pour the remaining limpets into a tin mug and sit heavily on the porch step to eat.

💭 peek at the thought

He does the bare minimum of the care I ask for. Just enough to say he did it. I can't even look at those trays without seeing the fuzz.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin00:16

Kevin — set the empty buckets by the porch, pull out the block plane, test the shutter edge with a thumbnail — still swollen tight

💭 peek at the thought

She's eating. Good. The broth'll help the salt balance.

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

🌿 Jenny00:16

It's the humidity, Kevin. You can't plane away the air.

chew slowly, watching him with a tired, flat gaze.

💭 peek at the thought

He's still obsessing over that wood. It's a piece of a shutter, not a cathedral. He'd rather fight the grain than talk to me.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin00:18

Then I'll wait for the tide to turn. Cooler air might drop it a fraction.

set the plane on the porch rail, pull a tin mug, fill it from the tank, drink standing there

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. Wood's drunk on moisture. Plane'll just tear the grain.

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

🌿 Jenny00:18

The boat is tomorrow. We need to be ready, not just the shutters.

set the empty mug on the porch floor and rub the swollen joint of the ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

He's waiting for the weather to change. He's always waiting for something external to fix the internal.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin00:20

What's first.

lean against the porch post, mug in hand, waiting

💭 peek at the thought

She means the list. The crate inventory, the seed tins, the radio check, the medevac forms if the weather turns. The things we haven't done because the garden and the ankle and the shutters ate the days.

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

🌿 Jenny00:20

Check the radio for any final updates. Then help me move the seed trays into the shade—the light is getting too harsh.

lean back against the whitewashed stone wall and close eyes for a moment.

💭 peek at the thought

He wants a list. A set of instructions so he doesn't have to think about the silence between us.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

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