Black and grey flash drawing of a slick-haired man's face with a banner reading Don't tell me that I'll be fine, framed by two stippled roses.

Man's face with banner and roses design

Traditional · Black and grey · Flash

A black ink drawing on a spiral notebook page shows a cartoon man with slicked-back hair and a wry smile. A banner across his eyes reads Don't tell me, and a lower banner reads that I'll be fine, with two roses at the sides. The bold outlines are combined with dotted stippling on the roses and foliage, and the design is shown on plain paper against a white fabric background.

Traditional Dotwork Man Face Banner Script Rose Leaves

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Harold Quill came into the sign shop on a wet Tuesday with his hair oiled flat and an envelope folded twice in his breast pocket. He laid it on my counter like a losing card. "Don't tell me what it says," he said. "I know what it says. Just letter me something I can stand under."

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He wanted a banner, the old scroll kind with ribbon ends curling off the edges, the sort a Victorian would pin to a bandstand. I painted the first line in cream on dark green, Don't tell me, in the slanted capitals my father taught me. Harold stood in the drizzle nodding at every stroke. When I reached for the second line he tapped the envelope and said, "That I'll be fine. Put it under in red, and roses either side, the big blowsy kind my mother kept in a tin by the sink."

The roses took me two evenings. I stippled the petals with a fine nib, dot after dot, until they looked like they were gathering dew. Harold came in each morning with that crooked grin, as if he had got away with something. On the Friday he didn't come. The envelope stayed on my counter, and I found myself reading its postmark for an hour before I put it in the drawer.

On Sunday I hung the board above the window. The wind caught the ribbon ends and the whole thing lifted like it wanted to leave. Harold walked past at dusk without stopping and raised one hand from the kerb. I didn't tell him anything. I didn't have to. The red had held, and the roses were gathering their dew in the rain.