Black and grey realism leg sleeve on the thigh and calf showing a lion head, daisies, a pocket watch and a scroll banner with lettering.

Lion, pocket watch and banner leg sleeve

Realism · Thigh · Black and grey · Photo

A full leg sleeve covers the thigh and calf, centred on a detailed lion head with a flowing mane and a string of beads above it. Daisies and a pocket watch with Roman numerals sit lower down the leg, and a scroll banner with partly visible lettering wraps around the calf. The shading is smooth and tonal in black and grey, with the leg shown in a relaxed pose against a purple cushion.

Realism Thigh Calf Lion Mane Daisy Flower Pocket watch Clock Banner Lettering Scroll Bead Leg sleeve

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The shutter goes up at half four, and the first thing I do is check the watch on its nail above the proving bench. My grandfather wound it every Sunday for forty years, and it still runs a minute slow, which he claimed was the only honest thing in the building. The Roman numerals have worn pale where his thumb used to rest on the glass.

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The dough has been sleeping since midnight under damp cloth, and it does not care that the streets outside are still black. I knead the first batch with the heel of my hand, the way he taught me, while the radio murmurs about rail delays. Ilse from the flat over the chemist comes down at five in her slippers for a seeded cob and a word about her sister's hip. We talk about nothing much. The lion painted on the old sign over the door has lost most of its gold, but its mane still catches the lamp.

For years I thought the scroll lettering beneath it was morbid, all those words curling round the bottom of the sign. Then I found his notebook. Beside a recipe for rye he had written, in pencil, that time heals nothing, it only lets the crust set, and a loaf taken out early is a loaf that never stops being sad. I laughed at him for being dramatic about bread.

At six I open the oven door and the heat rolls out like a held breath. The watch says six minutes past. I slide the tray free, tap the base, and listen for the hollow sound he always said was the only proof that anything had been finished properly.