Side ribs tattoo of a handwritten line reading there is always hope, with a red heart balloon and a black silhouette of a girl reaching up.

Script quote and girl silhouette on ribs

Fine line · Ribs · Mixed · Photo

A black script line runs diagonally across the side of the ribs, reading there is always hope, and ends beside a black silhouette of a girl with one arm raised toward a red heart-shaped balloon at the top left. The script is fine and thin, while the silhouette is solid black with soft grey shading, and the red balloon is the only area of colour. The photograph is taken at an angle from the side, with the torso filling the frame and a dark lace waistband visible at the bottom.

Fine line Lettering Ribs Balloon Heart Girl Silhouette Script Quote Hope

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Marjorie,

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I know you think I've lost my mind selling balloons at my age, but Mr Pascoe at the pier has no one else who can blow up a heart without going purple. The red ones go first. Nobody wants the yellow. A child asked me on Tuesday why the heart had a string and no weight, and I told her hearts are light if you let them be.

Then there was the girl in the blue mac, perhaps nine, who had let go of her balloon by the rail. It went straight up over the Winter Gardens, past the gulls, and she stood with her arm stretched out as if she could still hold it. I watched her face go from wanting to furious to something quieter. I gave her the next one free. She wouldn't take it at first. Said she'd only lose that one too.

So I did what your father taught me on the ferry years back. I tied the string to her wrist with a double knot and told her a balloon only leaves if you stop watching it. She laughed, which I did not expect, and wrote something on the card tag before she left. Her mother took the card. I read it after they'd gone. It said: there is always hope, in capitals, underlined twice.

I've pinned the tag above the stall. Come down on Sunday and see it. The wind's been kind this week.

Love, Eileen