Ornate lotus and chain pencil design

The gilt has finally dried on the centre canopy of the Gallopers, so I can write without my hands shaking from the ladder. Mr Okonedo wanted it lotus, because the drummer on the Waltzer swears a lotus brings luck to anything that moves. I drew it four times on the back of the cashbook before he chose. The fourth he pinned above the ticket hatch, grunting that it looked like something a girl would have inked on her hip in a magazine. I took that as a compliment, mostly.

The chains were the fiddly part. Fine lines swagging from the crown to the scrolled ends at each side, with little beads strung along them like the ones Mrs Dace wears to bingo. Under the flower hangs the teardrop, which everyone on the lot calls the tear of the lotus, though I shaded it with the soft lead so it would catch the arc lamps. Rain came Tuesday and ran the petals straight off the board, so I started the middle again on a spare sheet and pencilled every curl twice.

Last night we lit the whole ride for the first time. The canopy turned slowly over the grass, and the chain shadows slid across the horses and the children's upturned faces. The teardrop swung in and out of the light on every pass, and I stood by the generator stand watching it come round, thinking that nobody in the queue would ever see the pencil under the paint, only the shine.

I've kept the first drawing folded in my coat. It still has a thumbprint of cashbook ink on one corner. Come up in August and I'll show you it lit. Bring your good shoes, the field is mud.

Love, Bea