Black script reading have courage and be kind above a small black silhouette of a swallow in flight, on a plain white background.

Have courage and be kind script with swallow

Lettering · Black and grey · Flash

A black line drawing of the phrase have courage and be kind in flowing cursive script, with a large ampersand on the middle line. A solid black silhouette of a swallow in flight sits below the text. The design is black on white with no shading or colour, and the lettering and bird are centred in the frame.

Lettering Swallow Bird Script Quote Ampersand

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The oven door shuts with a sound like a book closing, and Ruth Ambler counts the trays by feel because the light over the bench has gone again. Outside on Halloran Street the sky is still blue-black. Her new lad, Danny, is late, which means the first tin loaves are going in alone, her hands cold and her mind on the letter folded in her apron pocket.

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A swallow has nested in the eaves above the back yard every spring since the bakery opened, and every spring Ruth has meant to block the gap. This morning one flicks through the open vent as she tips the proving baskets, a dart of dark over the flour sacks. It circles the racks twice before finding the gap again. She watches it go and thinks of her mother's chalkboard by the door, lettered in careful capitals: HAVE COURAGE AND BE KIND. Ruth had always thought it a bit soft, the sort of thing printed on tea towels.

Danny arrives at ten past five with his bike chain rattling and a split lip he doesn't explain. She doesn't ask. She hands him a knife and a tray of cooling rolls to bag, and says the council can wait until the queue is served. He nods, and for once he doesn't argue.

When the first customers come in, the sky over the car park has gone the colour of weak tea. Ruth slides the letter under the till face down and pushes the window open. The swallow is already out over the rooftops, low and quick. She lifts the first loaf from the rack and lets its warmth sit in her palms.