Black and grey tattoo of a stitched rag doll with button eyes and a pin in its dress, shown on the upper arm.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Button-eyed rag doll on upper arm

Upper arm · Mixed · Photo

A stitched rag doll with large button eyes, a stitched mouth and tangled hair stands in a short dress, with striped limbs and a pin stuck through its torso with small drops of blood. The linework is clean and the shading is soft and smooth, giving the figure volume and a slightly unsettling, cartoon-like character. The design is mostly grey and black with a faint pink tint in the dress, and it is placed on the outer upper arm against blue denim.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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The frost has held the yard three days now, and I still haven't got the pump going. Ma says to tell you the hens are laying again, which is more than can be said for the old ram. I found your rag doll in the bottom of the blanket chest this morning, the one with Father's brass buttons sewn on for eyes. You never could make a straight seam, so I suppose you'd be glad I'm the one who kept her. Her hair had come unpicked again, so I tangled it back into something like a fringe, and I re-stitched the wide grin you gave her, the one that always looked like she'd just been told a joke nobody else would get.

Yes, the pin is still in her. You were forever wanting to fix her to the dresser so she could watch the room, and Ma never let you, so you did it the afternoon she went over to the Hendersons' with the cream. There's a small dark mark on the grey of her dress where it went through, and I have left it alone. It seems right somehow, as if she's holding on to something and won't say what.

The snow came in sideways on Tuesday and drifted against the barn door, so Joe and I dug a path with the shovel. He asked after you. I told him you were in the city counting other people's money, and he said that sounded like hell. I didn't argue with him.

I've set her on the windowsill above the sink, facing the lane. If you come up for New Year, look for the button eyes first. She'll see you before anyone else does.

Love, Nell

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