Close-up of a small black star tattoo on a woman's ankle, with tan leather peep-toe clogs and a wooden heel beside it.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Small star tattoo on ankle

Ankle · Black and grey · Photo

A small solid black star sits on the outside of an ankle above the strap of a tan leather clog. The star is simple and filled in, with clean edges and no shading. The background is a pale stone wall and grey pavement, and the warm brown of the shoes contrasts with the skin.

Ankle Star

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom, Father's hands have gone too stiff for the awl since the frost, so the Penrose orders are mine now, and I'm writing this on the back of a sole pattern because the post goes out at six and the lamp is nearly dry.

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Mrs Pascoe came in yesterday wanting clogs that wouldn't skid on the slipway when she goes down for the crab pots. Not the plain black ones. She wanted the tan leather with the open toe and the buckle, and she wanted something on the side that only she would notice. I cut a small star into the leather above the strap and filled it with dark dye, and she turned her foot this way and that under the shop window and didn't say a word for a long time.

I thought of you out past the Hebrides, and how you swore the star off the stern was the only thing that kept you from going round in circles in fog. Father says the fleet will be in by Thursday if the wind holds, so keep your lamp trimmed in the wheelhouse and don't let Davey steer by the church bell again.

When Mrs Pascoe left, she set her old clogs by the door, worn through at the heel, and asked if I could keep the offcut with the star. I've tucked it in this envelope with the letter. Hold it when the watch is long, and know the stitching holds even when the sea doesn't. Your loving sister, Nell.