Black and grey Roman numeral lettering tattoo on the left ribs of a person in a black bra, shown in a black and white photograph.

Roman numeral lettering on the ribs

Lettering · Ribs · Black and grey · Photo

A black and white photograph shows the side of a torso with long hair falling across the shoulder, wearing a black bra. Two lines of bold Roman numeral lettering sit on the ribcage below the bra band, one line above the other and centred on the skin. The ink is solid black with soft grey tones in the surrounding skin, and the tight crop keeps the composition focused on the tattoo.

Lettering Ribs Roman numeral Numeral Text

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The galley of the Maudlin Rose smelled of carbolic and burnt porridge, and Dorrie Pask had been scratching numerals into the bulkhead above the stove since Tuesday. Skipper Hollis had asked her twice what they were for. She told him they were tide tables, which was half true, because the tide had kept her awake most of the week, and the other half was nobody's business on a boat carrying forty-one men.

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The first line was from the spring her Alf sailed on the Ardent and came home with a broken wrist and a paper bag of pear drops for the baby. She had written the date with the tip of a nail, the way her mother had marked the flour bin, so that she would not have to remember it. The second line was newer, from the winter the Ardent went down off Rattray Head with a crew of eight. Dorrie had been ashore that night with a cold and a pot of mustard, and she had never decided whether that made her lucky or only tired.

Hollis came in on Thursday with his cap in his hands and read the wall for a long time. He counted on his fingers, got it wrong, and counted again. "That's not a tide table," he said. "No," said Dorrie, and she went on stirring. "It's the days I've counted."

When he had gone she took the chalk from its nail, then put it back. There was still room under the second line, a hand's width of grey paint going on for nothing. She left it empty and went to see about the porridge.