Black and white photo of a man in a striped shirt and tie, with black linework and script tattoos on both forearms.

Forearm tattoos with script lettering

Lettering · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A man in a striped shirt and dark tie adjusts his tie, with both forearms visible and his face cropped out of frame. The left forearm carries branch-like linework, and the right forearm has black script lettering running along it. The photograph is monochrome, with soft, even lighting against a plain background.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom, the knot Mr Okafor taught me on Tuesday is the one you never managed at Dad's funeral, the Windsor, wide end over narrow, round the back and up through the loop like threading a needle in the rain. He had me practise on a wooden stand in the back room until my fingers stopped shaking, and then he said a tie is only a line you keep straight. I thought that was rubbish until I watched him do it for a customer who came in with his collar already soft from a long day.

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The shop is above the ironmonger's on Vine Street, and the order ledger is bound in green cloth that smells of machine oil. Every entry has a small pen sketch in the margin, a bare branch spreading out from the first letter of the surname, and when I asked why, Mr Okafor said it gives the work somewhere to grow. There is a branch beside the name of the man who comes in every Thursday for the same grey tie. He never says much. Last week he pulled the knot tight at the throat, looked at the mirror for a long while, and then asked me to write nothing on his receipt but the time.

I have not told Mother about any of this yet. She would want to know why I am not at the bank, and I would have to explain that I am happier with pins in my mouth than I have been in years. I will come home at Easter and show you the knot properly. Bring your own tie. I will teach you the slow way, the way that holds.

Your sister, Ruth

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