Two forearms with clasped hands, each bearing two colour tattoos of anthropomorphic animals in suits, including a hawk, a bear, a leopard and a cat, placed on the inner forearms.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Four animal portraits in suits on two forearms

Forearm · Colour · Photo

Two forearms are shown with hands clasped against a dark blue background. Each arm carries two illustrated animal busts: a hawk, a bear, a leopard and a cat, each dressed in a suit, tie, bow tie or spotted shirt, and the cat and bear wear glasses. The linework is soft and painterly, with shaded browns, greens and tans, and the four pieces are arranged in a neat grid across the arms.

Forearm Bear Leopard Cat Animal portrait Suit Bow tie Glasses Hand

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Ruth,

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The four of them came in again this morning, the hawk first, as ever, with his hat held against his chest like a man at a funeral. You'll remember the cut he likes: the shoulders left roomy so the wings don't split the seams when he folds them. Mr Brannock the bear wanted his lapels wider, and asked me, very politely, whether a tailor could make a waistcoat that would hold a pocket watch and a sandwich at once. The leopard wants everything in bottle green and will not be argued with about his bow tie. The cat, who still wears the spotted shirt you sewed for him last winter, sat in the fitting chair with his paws folded and said nothing at all until I'd finished the measuring.

Then he asked for a fifth suit. Grey, he said, with a waistcoat cut for a smaller frame, and a hook at the back for a hat that nobody wears. I told him there were only four of them, and he looked at me over his spectacles and said, "Yes, Mr Adair. That's the one we are measuring for."

I didn't push him. I wrote the figures in the ledger under a name I hadn't heard before, a fox, I think, judging by the tail length the cat gave me, and I put the cloth on the top shelf where the good wool goes.

Tomorrow they come back for the fittings. I've already pinned the grey to the form in the back room. If you're home by Thursday, come and help me hem the trousers, because I can't stand to take the last stitch alone.

Love, Dad