Black and grey realism tattoo of three roses with leaves and a line of Roman numerals across the thigh.

Three roses and Roman numerals on a thigh

Realism · Thigh · Black and grey · Photo

Three shaded roses with leaf details sit on the outer thigh, with a line of Roman numerals running between them. The roses are rendered in soft grey shading with fine detail in the petals and leaves. The ink is entirely black and grey on pale skin, and the photo is taken at a slight angle against a light bedsheet.

Realism Botanical Thigh Rose Leaves Roman numeral Text Flower

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Ruth,

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The three bushes you asked about came through the frost better than anyone expected. Dad says the cold snap in February did them good, which I don't believe, but he has been insufferable about it all week. I've labelled the cuttings in the potting shed the way he taught us, bundled in twists of brown paper with the numerals inked on the outside. Roman numerals, not the plain ones, because the nursery catalogue he bought in 1961 used them and he won't be argued out of it.

Yesterday I walked the rows at the bottom of the orchard with the secateurs. Late August, and the windfalls are going soft in the long grass. Wasps everywhere, and the sweet sour smell of cider from the press shed. The roses along the wall have gone over, but the deep red ones by the gate are still throwing out blooms, heavy and loose, nearly grey at the edges where the sun has got to them.

I cut the last of the dog roses for the kitchen table and found your note in the biscuit tin, the one about coming back for the pruning in March. I've kept the kettle warm since Tuesday. Come whenever you like. The gate sticks, so lift it by the bolt.

Love, Margaret