Black silhouette tattoo on a forearm of a grinning face balloon with stitched mouth, tied to a fine red string that a small black figure holds.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Skull balloon and silhouette on a forearm

Blackwork · Forearm · Mixed · Photo

A black skull-faced balloon with stitched mouth and angry eyes sits at the top of the forearm, its red string running down the arm. Below it, a solid black silhouette of a figure holding the string sits beside a small ghost-like dog, both rendered in flat black fills. The only colour is the thin red line, which gives a single accent against the skin tone.

Blackwork Forearm Jack skellington Balloon Silhouette

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Ruth,

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You will not believe what the balloon man sent up the lane after the vows. Dad had ordered the big black one from the gift shop in Whitby, the one with the grinning face painted on, and nobody thought to ask whether a face like that should be let loose over a marquee. Mum said it looked like a hostess. Uncle Colm said it looked like the bailiff. Then the string snapped in the wind off the top field and up it went, bobbing over the hedge, stitched mouth and all.

Then the dog. Mr Pim's little grey terrier, which has never once in eleven years come when called, took off after it like a comet with its tail on fire. I went too, in my good shoes, holding up my skirt, and I swear I saw the dog run straight up the side of the hawthorn and vanish into the sky. Only the string came back down, red as a fishing line, and I caught it.

The strangest part is that Pim's boy, the one who has been sulking since the speeches, took the other end of the string and walked me back to the barn without saying a word. We tied it to the gatepost. It is still there. Every time the wind turns, the balloon nods at us over the hedge as if it knows something about the bride.

I am writing this on the back of a seating plan, so forgive the smudges. Come on Saturday and bring your good scissors. I think somebody ought to cut that thing loose, but I don't think either of us will.

Love, Bea