Small black serif tattoo of the numerals 9 and 3/4 on the inner wrist, shown in a close-up photo.

9 and three quarters on the inner wrist

Lettering · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A small tattoo of the number 9 with a stacked fraction, 3 over 4, sits on the inner wrist against pale skin. The lines are solid black with a serif typeface and show slight variation in weight. The design is centred in the frame, with a dark background behind the arm.

Lettering Forearm Numeral Number

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Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The timetable at Haverly Junction has eight platforms, and every morning you walk past the ninth to check the board still says so. Your mother's gran worked the night signals here when the tracks ran on solar cells and the carriages hummed like fridges. She told you the ninth platform was there only for the half-hour between trains, and that the trick was to stop looking for it and simply count your steps.

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Today the board reads 9 3/4 in the old serif font, the one the depot uses for things it no longer maintains. Nobody has ever booked a ticket for it. You open the sealed cabinet at the end of the concourse, take out the brass ticket punch and the grey carriage key, and wait for the tannoy to clear its throat. A woman in a long oilskin coat is already standing on the ninth, holding a suitcase tied with blue string, staring at the rails as if they owe her money.

'Is this the one for Lowmoor?' she asks. You tell her yes, though the line to Lowmoor was dismantled before you were born. The train slides in from nowhere, a single carriage with lamps the colour of weak tea. She steps aboard without looking back, and the platform folds shut behind her like a notebook.

You stand there until the tannoy clicks again. Then you go back to the signal box and write in the log: eight platforms, as always. Beneath it, in smaller letters, you add one passenger, departed. It is the only entry you have ever been proud of.