Black and pink nautical stars scattered across an upper arm and shoulder, with two larger black stars shaded in the centre.

Scattered stars on upper arm

Traditional · Upper arm · Mixed · Photo

A close view of an upper arm and shoulder carrying a scattered cluster of stars. Two larger black nautical stars with shaded points sit among smaller outlined and solid pink stars, with some tiny dots filling the gaps. The motifs drift diagonally down the arm, and the pink and black ink stands out clearly against the skin.

Traditional Upper arm Shoulder Star

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Lorraine, I found the biro in my coat pocket this morning, the blue one with the chewed end you swore was yours. Sorry for the eleven years of grudge, it was never really about the pen. Thursday was odd. The sports hall smelled of the same floor polish, and someone had hung a banner saying Ravensworth 1999 Leavers, which is wrong on two counts, but nobody wanted to be the one to say so.

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Tennant was there, or what's left of him, holding a plastic cup of squash and telling anyone who would listen that the Northern Star was the only reliable guide a lad needed before satnavs. You remember how he made us draw the eight-pointed one on the back of our atlas pages, shading each point so it looked like it could cut you. We thought it was a joke. Then you went over the top with pink gel pen, and he gave us both detention for defacing Ordnance Survey property.

I didn't tell you then, but I kept the atlas. It's in the loft under the Christmas tree stand. Last night I took it down and found our stars still there, faded but stubborn, drifting off the coast of Iceland like a fleet that had lost its way. I thought of you pressing so hard the nib split.

Come Saturday, bring the gel pens. The pink ones are still in the drawer, and I reckon we owe Tennant a second detention.