Black and grey back tattoo of a bird in flight beside German text, with a brushstroke ladder shape and red wash, placed across the back.

Bird in flight with German text on a back

Realism · Back · Mixed · Photo

A large back tattoo shows a bird in flight with spread wings, rendered in realistic black and grey shading, with smaller birds near the shoulder. Printed German text runs down the left side, and a vertical ladder-like shape made of loose, dripping brushstrokes sits below it. Soft red and brown washes behind the design add warm colour to the background.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Matthias, the snow has shut the pass since Tuesday, and the innkeeper's wife has given me the room under the eaves, where the slates ring every time the wind takes a handful of ice off the roof. I am writing this on the back of your last bill of lading because the inn has run out of paper that isn't already printed on.

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The sheet pinned by the stairs is a page torn from some dictionary a guest left behind. Someone has underlined a line in pencil: freedom is commonly understood as the possibility of choosing between options without compulsion. Herr Gruber says the pencil belonged to his late brother. I have decided that underline is the only honest thing in this valley.

This morning forty or more birds settled on the pine ledge, and then one large black bird lifted off the roof as though the weather were none of its business. I climbed the loft ladder to watch it. The rungs are split and spotted with old candle wax, and I thought of you, who once told me a ladder is only a list of decisions about how far to go up.

Gruber's granddaughter has offered to walk the pass road with me on Thursday if the plough comes through. I have said yes. Do not write back to tell me it is dangerous, because I have already packed the good boots. Keep the red shutters painted. The sky over the ridge turns that colour before it snows again, and I want to be home to see it.

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