Close side view of a fine black script tattoo reading na mo amituofo along the ribs, below a black bra strap.

Script lettering along the ribs

Lettering · Ribs · Black and grey · Photo

A side view of a torso and arm, with a black bra covering the upper body and long dark hair falling over the shoulder. Thin black cursive lettering reading na mo amituofo runs horizontally along the side of the ribs. The ink is solid black with clean, fine linework, and the plain indoor background keeps the focus on the tattoo.

Lettering Fine line Ribs Script Lettering Phrase Text

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tomasz, the bakery on Fenwick Row has finally got its new oven, and it sulks like Father did when the rain came in. I have been up since four learning its moods. Mrs Okafor from number nine brought round a tin of shortbread and asked after you, which I took as an insult to my own baking, but she meant well.

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I found Mum's prayer beads in the drawer under the tills, the wooden ones with the broken tassel. You will remember how she sat on the back step every evening with the radio off, counting under her breath while the bread proved. Na mo amituofo, over and over, sometimes so quietly I only knew it by the bead clicks. I used to think it was a spell to keep the flour from going flat.

Last week I finally asked the man at the temple on Mill Lane what it meant. He said it was a kind of bow, a way of saying that you turn towards something bigger than your worries. Then he laughed and said the monks in one part of the world say it quickly and the grandmothers in another say it slowly. I told him Mum said it slowest of all, when the kettle was boiling and she thought nobody was listening.

I have started counting too. The loaves come out at eleven. Come home when you can, and bring the beads if you still have the cord.

Love, Ruth