Traditional style tattoo of two sugar skull figures embracing, one in a black hat with a red flower and one in a polka dot dress, on the upper arm.

Sugar skull couple embracing on upper arm

Traditional · Upper arm · Mixed · Photo

A tattoo of two sugar skull figures in a dancing embrace, one wearing a black wide-brimmed hat with a red flower and a polka dot dress with a red sash, the other in dark trousers and a jacket. The outlines are bold and the skulls are shaded with grey and decorated with floral patterns, while the clothing uses flat purple, red and black fills. The figures are set against a plain skin background, with a blurred indoor scene behind the arm.

Traditional Upper arm Sugar skull Couple Skeleton Hat Flower Polka dot Dress Day of the dead

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The fiesta in Oaxaca had been Marisol's idea, but it was Teodoro who ended up dancing with the widow of the baker's brother, because Marisol had gone out to the courtyard to find her hat. Her black hat, the wide one with the red hibiscus pinned above the brim, had blown off the table in the wind off the market. She found it under a bench, dusted it on her skirt, and came back to see the band striking up a corrido with the bass drum going like a second heartbeat.

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Teodoro was not dancing badly, which annoyed her more than if he had. He held the widow's hand high and turned her under his arm in the old slow way, his jacket open and his polished shoes stepping neatly between the dropped marigold petals. When the music changed he saw Marisol in the doorway, and he did not stop, only lifted his chin and grinned the way he had grinned the night they first met over a spilled jug of tepache.

She thought about leaving. Instead she crossed the tiles in her polka dot dress, the red sash tied tight at her waist, and tapped the widow on the shoulder. The woman laughed, surrendered her partner with a little curtsey, and went off to find a cup of something cold.

Marisol took Teodoro's hand and set her hat firmly on her head. "You can have one dance," she said. "Then I want to hear what you were going to tell the widow about the goat."

He pulled her close, hip to hip, and they went round the courtyard until the candles burned down to stubs, and the goat, as far as anyone knew, was never mentioned again.