Small fine line black arrow tattoo on the side of a finger, photographed against a dark leather surface.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Arrow tattoo on a finger

Fine line · Hand · Black and grey · Photo

A small arrow pointing upwards, with a slim shaft and a feathered fletching at the base, is tattooed along the side of a finger. The linework is thin and even, and the ink is solid black with no shading. The finger is held against a dark, glossy surface with a strip of tape visible at the top left, and the hand fills most of the frame.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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The lock at Hythe Bridge has been sticking since the thaw, so we tied up above it and I have had three days to think about your letter. You asked whether I still have the arrow Dad whittled for me the summer the Cherwell flooded. I do. It hangs on the nail by the stove, where the kettle steam keeps it damp, and the fletching has gone soft the way cheap feathers do.

Mrs Okafor from the next boat walked down this morning with a pot of blackberry jam and a question about her grandson. He has been copying the marks the lock-keepers scratch into the beams, little straight lines with a notch at the top, and he wants to know which one means the water is deep. I told her none of them mean anything except that somebody was bored and had a knife. She laughed and said that was exactly what the lock-keepers told her about Dad.

I keep thinking about the fletching, how Dad cut each feather notch with the same small blade he used on the tiller pins. Clean lines, no shading, nothing to hide behind. You either get the cut right or you spend the rest of the season looking at it.

So come up at Easter and bring the good saw. We'll pull the boat out at Oxford and I'll show you the arrow still hanging where Dad left it, pointing at the roof, which is the only direction I have ever trusted.

Love, Nell

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