Traditional style tattoo of a grey cartoon shark wearing a brown cowboy hat, with HOWDY repeated in an arc above it, on a lower leg.

Cartoon shark in a cowboy hat with Howdy lettering

Traditional · Calf · Mixed · Photo

A cartoon shark wearing a brown cowboy hat faces right with its mouth open to show rows of teeth, with the word HOWDY repeated three times in an arc above. The shark is rendered with bold black outlines and grey shading, with red fins and a brown hat as the main colour accents. Partial dark tattoos are visible at the bottom and left edge of the frame, and the plain background is a dark, out-of-focus surface.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell,

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The shark came aboard off Peterhead on Tuesday, mouth open like it had a joke it wanted to tell us. Skipper Dougie swore it was the same one that had been nicking cod off the long lines since March, and he may be right, because it had a hat on. Brown felt, a proper Stetson sort of thing with pale stitching round the brim. Nobody knows where it came from. Ask the cook, who says it had been sat on the gutting table reading his Dandy annual when he came up for his tea.

It said howdy. That was the whole of what it said, three times, in a voice like a rusty winch. Ronnie wanted to chuck it back. Dougie said you don't insult a fella's hat, and the shark tipped its brim at him, which settled the matter. We've called it Sheriff since, though Ronnie insists on Tex, and it has taken to sitting on the wheelhouse roof with its tail hanging over the rail like it owns the place.

Last night the net came up light and the Sheriff was gone. We searched the deck with torches. Then Ronnie found a note folded under the hatband of the spare oilskin, in careful capitals: GONE TO FIND THE HERRING. KEEP THE HAT DRY. YOUR PAL, HOWDY.

I've not told Mum. She'd only make me wear a vest.

Love, Lewis

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