Colour tattoo of a smiling cartoon gnome with a red hat, white beard and blue robe, seated cross-legged with arms outstretched.

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Smiling cartoon gnome tattoo

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A seated cartoon gnome with a tall red hat, white beard and closed, smiling eyes sits cross-legged with its arms held out to each side. The bold black outlines and flat, solid fills of blue, brown, red and white give it a cartoon look, with light shading on the robe and boots. The figure fills the frame against plain, lightly freckled skin.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Mum,

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I know you think I've lost the plot, but the gnome is in the passenger footwell right now, sitting cross-legged on a tea towel, and he has not once stopped smiling. Dad's gnome, the one from the back step in Crewe, was supposed to stay behind with the hostas. Instead he came along on the eleven-hour drive out to the desert road because Gran said he'd want to see the sunrise. Nobody asked the gnome.

We left the motel before six. The road ran dead straight between the mesas, the sort of tarmac that shimmers so you can't tell where it stops and the sky starts. Somewhere past a petrol station with no pumps, a lorry driver flashed his lights at us and pointed at our dashboard. I looked down and the gnome had shifted, arms flung wide, as if someone had just told him the good news. The lorry driver laughed so hard he nearly took the verge.

By noon the heat was pressing the windscreen flat. We stopped at a diner with one working fan and a jukebox that only played Patsy Cline. Gran ordered pie and insisted the gnome have a slice. I set a sugar cube in front of him and I'll swear he looked pleased about it.

When we came over the last rise, Gran was crying and laughing at the same time, and the gnome sat on the dashboard with his arms out, as if he'd arranged the whole view himself. I've decided he can stay in the car. Love to Dad, and tell him the hostas will manage.

Love, Jo

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