Black and grey script lettering reading big sis and lil sis, tattooed across two fingers on the hand.

Big sis and lil sis script on two fingers

Lettering · Hand · Black and grey · Photo

Two hands rest against each other in a black and white photograph, with the words big sis tattooed on one finger and lil sis on the finger beside it. The lettering is a slim, joined script in dark ink, with clean lines and some soft shading where the letters meet the skin. The soft focus and shallow depth of field keep attention on the two lines of text, with the background fading to dark grey.

Lettering Hand Script Word Finger

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Lil,

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The galley on the Harwich night boat smells of onions and bleach, and the cook has taken to calling me Captain because I am the only one who will scrub the grease trap without swearing. Tell Mum I am eating. I am eating more than I did at home, which she will not believe.

Your postcard came on Tuesday, the one with the lighthouse at Lowestoft. You wrote that the flat in Leeds has a window that rattles every time a bus goes past, and that you lie awake counting them. Count them for me too. I used to count the ferry's engines on the crossing, six beats and a shudder, until I could sleep through anything. You will get there faster than I did.

Here is what I have been meaning to say. When you left, I stood on the platform with my hands in my coat pockets and was furious that you had not asked me to come. Then I remembered you were always the one who went first, climbing the wall at the back of Nan's yard while I held the ladder and told you to be careful. I was never much good at being left behind. I am learning.

There is a spare berth below deck with a porthole that never quite shuts. I have taped the corner of your card to the frame so the sea can see it. Write when the buses stop, and tell me what the city sounds like when it finally goes quiet.

Love, Big sis