Forearm tattoo of a red, white and blue shield with a star, with the words SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE THAT HEROES EXIST. in red capitals beneath it.

Shield and quote on a forearm

Forearm · Colour · Photo

A small shield made of concentric red and cream rings with a blue centre and a cream star sits on the inner forearm. Below it, a four-line quote is set in red serif capitals. The rings and text have clean, solid outlines with flat fills, and the tattoo is shown against plain skin with a hand at the bottom of the frame.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

Keep reading

The relief boat came in on Tuesday with the new lamp glass wrapped in sacking, and Mr Pengelly swore all the way up the cliff path because the wind got under the crate and nearly had it into the sea. I sat on the step and counted gulls so I wouldn't have to watch. You'd have laughed at me. I was never much use with ropes.

Nobody on the island believes the light will be lit by spring, least of all the council men who want it dark. But Ada Penhale, who is nine and tallies everything on the back of her school jotter, painted a shield on the lamp-room door while the rest of us argued. Red rings, a cream ring, a blue middle, and a star in the centre she had to redo three times because the brush kept slipping. Underneath, in capitals: SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE THAT HEROES EXIST. I asked where she got it. She said the wireless man had told her, though I suspect it came from a comic she borrowed from the mainland shop.

Mr Pengelly stood in front of it for a long time. Then he took the stiff brush off its nail and did the frame himself, slowly, the way he used to paint the boats before his hands went.

I don't know if the light will come on. But this morning I climbed up and the door was still there, a bit salted from the spray, the star bright as a coin. I think I'll leave it up.

Yours, Mags

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