Small black fine line anchor tattoo on the outer ankle, with a woven beaded anklet and a sandal strap visible nearby.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Small anchor tattoo on an ankle

Fine line · Ankle · Black and grey · Photo

A small, solid black anchor sits on the side of a bare foot, just above the heel. The linework is fine and even, with a simple shank, crossbar and curved flukes, and the ink has no shading. The warm, slightly faded photograph shows a sandy background, a woven anklet with beads and a leather sandal strap.

Fine line Ankle Anchor Foot Anklet Bead Sandal

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell,

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The ferry is late again, so I am sat on the harbour wall with my shoes in my lap, writing this on the back of the seating plan because I forgot my good paper. Your mother says I am not to make a speech tomorrow, and I have promised, so this is a letter instead, which she cannot stop me sending.

When you were six you drew an anchor on the back of my hand with Grandad's biro, and he told you it would hold you steady in a blow. You believed him. You held your own hand still for a full minute so the lines would not wobble. That same stubbornness got you through the winter you wouldn't come off the boat, and through the phone call about Tom's job in Aberdeen, and now it has got you a man who turns up early to everything, which is a mercy.

Tomorrow you will walk up the shingle in those flat shoes you swore you would not wear, and I will not cry until the vows, and then I will cry through them. Keep hold of the small things. A knot tied properly, a promise written down, the tide table folded in your pocket. Whatever the weather does, the anchor stays where you set it.

Love, always, Gran