Black ink tattoo of a 2, an infinity symbol, an ampersand and a less-than sign across the finger knuckles of a hand, with a screenshot of an online comment thread beside it.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Infinity, ampersand and less-than tattoo on fingers

Hand · Black and grey · Photo

A hand with bold black lettering and symbols inked across the middle and ring finger knuckles, reading 2, an infinity sign, an ampersand and a less-than sign. The lines are solid and even, with the characters set side by side across the fingers. The photograph is taken against a dark blue fabric, and the right half of the image is a screenshot of a comment thread discussing the less-than sign.

Hand Infinity symbol Ampersand Symbol Knuckle

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tobias,

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The rain has come sideways across Chapel Market since Tuesday, and my stall under the blue tarpaulin looks like a drowned pantry. Mr Okonjo came by this morning wanting the old typewriter keys, the ones with the proper ampersands, and he spent ten minutes insisting the little left-pointing sign on the tray was the greater-than sign. I told him it opens its mouth towards the bigger thing, like a hungry gull. That is how your grandfather taught me, though he was wrong about the football too.

Then a girl of about nine came with her mother and asked what the sideways eight was for. I said it was for things that never run out, like the queue at the post office on a Friday. She offered me her left mitten in exchange, which I politely declined. Her mother bought the infinity key for two pence, and the girl carried it off to the bus stop, holding it up to the rain as if she were checking it for holes.

By four the sky had gone the colour of wet slate and I had sold almost nothing except the keys nobody else wanted. I packed the ampersands into the cigar box with your name on the lid, and I counted the less-than signs twice, because I did not trust the first count.

There is one left over, a less-than sign with a chipped top, and I have kept it back for you. Point it at whatever you think is bigger, and we will argue about it over Sunday tea.

Love, Aunt Maureen