Black and grey fine line tattoo of a bee with stippled shading on the upper arm, close to the elbow.

Bee tattoo on upper arm

Fine line · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

A detailed bee sits on the upper arm of a person wearing a maroon top, shown in profile with wings spread and antennae visible. The linework is fine and the thorax and abdomen are built up with stippled dots and banded shading. The image is in black ink and greys against natural skin tones, with a plain wall and a yellow wristband in the background.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Marnie,

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The hives on the Ashgrove car park roof have gone quiet for the night, which is the only time I can hear the trains down on the Harrow line. I came up with the torch and the smoker because Mr Okafor from the fourth floor rang the office to say a bee had got into his flat and was bumping about the lampshade like it had a grudge. I told him bees don't fly after dark. He told me to come and see.

It was a worker, a big dark one with her wings held out flat as a fan, sitting on the rim of his kettle. Her stripes were so fine under the lamp that I thought at first someone had drawn them on with a steady hand and a bit of soot. She walked the length of my glove, stopped, cleaned her antennae, and then went up the stairwell toward the roof as if she knew the way. I followed her up four flights in my socks.

At the top she went straight to hive three and walked in through the gap as though she'd paid the rent. I sat on the parapet with the whole grey city laid out below, buses stopping and starting, somebody singing in the kebab shop on the corner, and I thought about how we say a bee is lost when it is only out late.

I'm telling you because you said I never finish things. This one I finished. Come up at the weekend and I'll show you the lamp, and the kettle with its dent.

Love, Hen

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