Small black fine-line tattoo of two crossed leafy sprigs on the upper arm near the elbow, with a knitted sleeve pushed up above it.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Crossed leafy sprigs on upper arm

Fine line · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

The photograph shows a small tattoo of two leafy sprigs crossing at their stems, with the stems forming a V shape. The linework is thin and even, with leaves drawn as small outlined shapes and little shading. The image is black and grey against a pale background, and the tattoo sits in the centre of a close crop of the upper arm, with a grey knitted sleeve bunched above it.

Fine line Botanical Upper arm Sprig Leaf Stem Branch Plant

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Gone three, and the ward has settled into that hush where even the drip pumps seem to apologise. Bed nine has been asking for the sprig again. Her husband brought it in on Sunday, two stems of rosemary tied with garden twine, and he laid them crossed on her locker because he said she'd know the kitchen smell of them. She doesn't remember the twine now, only that it was green.

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I found the sprigs in the drawer under the obs machine, where I'd put them for safekeeping, the needles gone grey and stiff. I didn't tell her they had dried out. I held them up against the window so the light came through the little leaves, and she said, "Yes, that's them," the way you'd agree with someone about a song you both half remember.

At half four the agency rang about the bank shift rota, and I told him I'd take it if he stopped calling me love. Then I wrote the handover for days: bed nine settled, pain managed, sprig on locker, do not throw away. Under it, in smaller letters, I added ask husband to bring the twine.

Dawn came up over the car park like dishwater. Mrs Okonedo was asleep with one hand resting on the stems, which had been crossed on purpose, one leaning into the other so their tops would stay upright. By the time the day staff came on, they were lying on her blanket like a pair of folded hands, and I went home without writing anything else down.