Black linework tattoo of a turtle with a lotus flower, swirls and leaves on the ankle, shown in a black and white photograph.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Turtle with lotus tattoo on an ankle

Ankle · Black and grey · Photo

A bold black outline of a turtle shell contains a lotus flower and spiral swirls, with leaf shapes extending from the edges and a small leg at the bottom. The lines are solid and even, with no shading, and the design is shown in greyscale against pale skin. The tattoo sits small and centred on the side of the ankle, with lace clothing in the lower part of the frame.

Ankle Turtle Lotus Swirl Leaves Flower Spiral

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Bev, the net came up heavy off the Dogger on Tuesday and there was a turtle in the cod end, a loggerhead the size of a tea tray with its shell scraped raw where the mesh had bitten. Nobody aboard the Constance Mary had seen one this far north. Skipper wanted it over the side before the gulls got wind of it, but young Kit Harrow got his knife into the twine first, and between us we lifted the thing onto the wet planks and sat there in the spray like fools.

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It looked up at us with an old face, and Kit went quiet, which is not like him. He pulled the fish ticket from his oilskin, the one with the weights and the pounds of haddock, and on the back he drew the shell: a dome with a spiral curling out of it like the top of a wave, a lotus bud sitting in the middle because, he said, his gran always told him anything that comes up from the mud should have something in it that opens. He put little leaves trailing off the edges and a stubby foot at the bottom, as if the thing might still walk home.

We slid it back through the rail at slack water. It didn't hurry. It dragged itself under with its flippers working like a man swimming in wellies, and the lotus on Kit's ticket went soft in his fist before he'd finished folding it. He has kept the ticket. He's had the drawing inked small on the side of his ankle at a parlour in Hull, and says it still feels like the sea when the boat rolls.

Tell Mam I'm eating properly. We're out again Monday, so don't write back before Thursday. Your brother, Danny.