Black and grey realism tattoo of a small sea turtle with shaded shell scutes and dotted edging, placed on the top of a foot.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Sea turtle on the top of a foot

Realism · Other · Black and grey · Photo

A small sea turtle is tattooed on the top of a foot, viewed from above with its head pointing to the right and its flippers spread. The shell is shaded in soft greys with a dotted border along the edge, and the scutes are rendered with light and dark tones to give depth. The turtle sits on pale skin against a dark leather surface, and the image is shot close up with the tattoo centred in the frame.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Aunt Ruth, I'm writing from the back step of the lifeboat shed because the kitchen is full of Dad's grumbling about the council. You'll want the news. The little turtle came up Gull Scar on Tuesday, the night the new lamps went up along the promenade, and it was heading inland like a man who has lost his hat. Mrs Pargeter found it first and nearly stepped on it in her good shoes.

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I carried it down to the tideline in a fish crate lined with my cardigan. Its shell was the colour of wet slate, and the knobbly rim of it looked as if someone had pressed a row of pearl buttons around the edge. It kept its flippers out wide, as though it were still swimming through the air, and every time a wave slid back it lifted its head towards the dark water as if it could already taste the salt.

The thing I keep thinking about is how sure it was. Nobody had told it which way was home. It had simply known, and the lamps had nearly talked it out of knowing. When the next wave reached the crate I tipped it out, and it went down the sand in a quick, crooked line and was gone under the foam before I could say goodbye.

I told Dad I'd been sitting on the sea wall. He didn't ask why I came home with sand in my hair and no cardigan. Love, Peggy

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