Greyscale pencil drawing of three realistic roses and an open pocket watch with a beaded chain, a realism tattoo design with no body placement shown.

Three roses and a pocket watch in graphite

Realism · Black and grey · Flash

A realistic pencil drawing shows three full-bloom roses at the top, with an open pocket watch resting in front of them, its face showing Roman numerals and a hand pointing to the numbers. The watch chain loops across the lower right, and soft cross-hatched shading gives the petals and metal case depth. The drawing is entirely in black and grey tones on a pale background.

Realism Botanical Rose Pocket watch Clock face Chain Flower

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom, The watch came back with the Tuesday boat, wrapped in oilcloth with a tag still reading Harwick Ferry Office in Mr Pell's blocky hand. The glass was cracked across the four and the chain had knotted itself like fishing line. I have not opened the case since. The roses you planted by the chapel wall came into full bloom the same week, three of them, heavy and grey-pink in the wet. I cut them without thinking and laid them on the kitchen table beside the watch, the way Father used to lay out his tools.

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Mr Pell says the ferry struck the Skerry Bank in fog and nobody was lost but the mail. He says you were at the stern checking the chains, with your coat folded over your arm because it was warm for March. I asked him what time it had stopped and he looked at the face and said ten past four, which is when the bell went. I do not know if I believe him, but the hands have stayed exactly there for nine days.

Last night I sat up with the lamp and opened the case with a hairpin. The works were furred with sea salt, but the second hand was still ticking, very faintly, as if it had only been waiting for someone to ask. I wound the crown until it stiffened and set the hands to twenty to nine, then laid the chain in a loop across the table the way you always wore it, dropping over the rim of the teacup.

The roses are going over now. I have pressed one flat inside the back of the case, between the glass and the cover, where you kept Mum's photograph. Come home at Easter if the boats are running. Bring the good coat. Nell.