Black and grey tattoo on a forearm spelling COEXIST, with the letters replaced by a rounded ear, a figure in a wheelchair, braille dots, crossed sticks and a cross, in front of green and orange floral

Coexist lettering on a forearm

Lettering · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

The tattoo on the forearm spells the word COEXIST, with several letters replaced by pictorial symbols: an ear, a seated figure in a wheelchair, braille-style dots, crossed sticks and a cross-shaped letter. The linework is bold and solid black, with grey fill and shading in the letter S and the small details. The background is a green and orange floral wrapping, and the tattoo fills the centre of the frame.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Tuesday, and the frost has held the paint in the tins all morning, so I've been at the kitchen table practising letters on old newspaper. Mrs Okonedo from the parish council rang again about the board for the village hall. She wants the word on it, nothing fancy, and she wants the pictures to say what the words can't. I told her I'd try.

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I drew it out four times. The C kept turning into a moon until I gave it an ear, the same shape as the one on the hearing aid leaflet in the surgery. The O became a chair with big wheels and a small figure sitting in it. For the E I used rows of raised dots, six to a letter, like the print on the tins of mints my dad kept in the Land Rover. Two crutches crossed where the X should go. The T I left as a plain cross, because the church already has the only other one in the village and I didn't want anyone thinking the board was pointing them to Sunday service.

The S was the difficulty. Every version looked like a snake or a question mark. In the end I painted it in four colours, grey and white with a bit of ochre, the same mix as the old barn doors at Hollins. Mrs Okonedo stood in the cold yard and said that was the one, because it looked like something that had been mended more than once and still held.

I hung it on Saturday with two lads from the football club holding the ladder. Jim asked if I'd put the ear in the wrong place. I said the ear's where people listen, and he laughed and went off to the bar. The board's still up. Frost on the window again tonight. I'll go down in the morning and check the paint's dry properly before the rain comes in.

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