Black and grey photograph of a small pine tree tattoo in simple black linework on the side of a finger, with the hand raised against a plain wall.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Pine tree on a finger

Botanical · Hand · Black and grey · Photo

A small pine tree with stacked, tiered branches is tattooed in solid black ink along the side of a finger. The linework is simple and even, with a single slender trunk extending down the finger. The hand is raised against a plain background in a black and white photograph, with the tattoo placed centrally in the frame.

Botanical Hand Pine tree Tree Finger tattoo

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Ada, the cook's knife slipped again this morning and I've a nick on my thumb to show for it, so forgive the blotting. We're three weeks out of Kristiansand with the hold full of pine deals, and the mate has taken to counting them each night as if they might climb back up the gangway.

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You'll remember Pa's stories about the pines behind the chapel, how each one stacked its branches in tiers like a wedding cake left out in the rain. On the crossing the men gather by the timber after supper. Old Sorensen, who lost two fingers to a winch, taps the wood with his good hand and counts the rings under his breath. He says a tree that has stood through forty winters keeps a tally of them in its trunk, and that a straight pine never grew straight by luck.

Last night I asked him what he meant to keep, the rings or the wood. He pressed a splinter into my palm and told me to take it home. I've put it in my pocket with the salt. When we dock at Hull I'll post it to you with this letter, so you can stand it in the jar on the windowsill where the geranium used to be.

Don't let the lamp smoke you out, and tell Mother the porridge was the best thing I ever burnt. Your brother, Tom.