Black script tattoo reading 13.elieve on the top of a foot near the ankle, beside a crystal-studded sandal strap.

13.elieve script on the top of a foot

Lettering · Ankle · Black and grey · Photo

A close photograph of a black script tattoo reading 13.elieve, set at a slight diagonal across the top of the foot. The thin, slightly tapered letterforms are filled in solid black with little visible shading. The foot is shown against a tan sandal strap and a row of sparkling crystal embellishments on a grey floor.

Lettering Ankle Script Text Sandal Crystal

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Ruth,

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You will laugh when you see the handbills for the regatta. On Tuesday the B in BELIEVE had worn so thin on the old Monotype that the press dropped in a dot and a pair of dented curves, and Mr Pardoe, squinting over his spectacles, declared it a thirteen. He would not spend a fresh sheet of card on something so small, so the word went out to every mooring on the Swale reading 13.elieve, dot and all.

Nobody on the quay has said a word about it, which tells you what Whitstable thinks of spelling. Old Captain Vane read the bill aloud at the Oyster Bar and said he had never trusted a thing that began with a number, and then he paid for his pint with a shilling dated 1887 and asked the girl at the bar whether she believed it was legal tender. She said she believed it was a shilling. That was the end of the matter.

I went down to the slipway this morning to look at the banner they've strung between the masts of the Mary Jane. The paint has run a little at the join, so the 13 leans like a sailor leaning into a wind, and the full stop sits right against the e as though the word had paused to catch its breath before it said anything foolish. I stood there a long while. I think it is the best thing anyone has printed in this town for years.

Come home at the weekend. Bring your good coat, and tell Mr Pardoe he owes the harbour a new B.

Your loving sister, Nell