Small fine line black butterfly tattoo with swirling dotted trails on the outer ankle of a light-skinned leg.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Butterfly with swirls on an ankle

Fine line · Ankle · Black and grey · Photo

A small butterfly with dark, thin outlines and partial shading sits on the outer ankle, with a curling line of fine dots trailing from its wings. The linework is delicate and the ink is dark grey to black, with no colour. The tattoo is centred on a plain pale background of skin and dark fabric, with the bare foot visible at the bottom of the frame.

Fine line Ankle Butterfly Swirl Dotted line

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Dimitri,

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The guard at the Kalna crossing held my papers up to the lamp for so long that the lorry behind me started sounding its horn, and I thought, this is the end of our plan. He turned the pages slowly, then looked at the little paper butterfly you folded into the envelope, the one you cut from the back of your ration card, and he almost smiled. He asked whether I was travelling alone. I said no, my brother had gone on ahead with the dotted route, and he stamped the page without another word.

Everything since has been like that, small tokens doing the work that money could not. The map you drew for me has a fine line of dots running from the river town down to the coast, looping round the hills the way you always said a swallow would fly if it had any sense. I have followed it with my thumb every night in the bus shelters. Where the dots bend near the ferry office I found the curl you drew there, the one that looks like wind, and I laughed out loud in front of a family asleep on their bags.

The ferry leaves on Thursday, if the sea allows. I have sewn the paper butterfly into the lining of my coat, next to Mama's ring, so that whatever the officers on the other side want to open, they will have to undo the stitching first.

Tell Aunt Lina the dots are still in order. I will meet you under the clock at Dover with the rest of the map, and you can tell me which bend I got wrong.

Love, Zuzana