Small colour tattoo of two red cardinals perched on a black branch, on the inner forearm.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Two red cardinals on a branch on a forearm

Fine line · Forearm · Colour · Photo

The tattoo shows two red cardinals perched side by side on a thin, leafless grey-black branch. The birds are filled with solid red ink and outlined in fine black linework, with the branch drawn in simple lines across the lower half. The small design sits centrally on the forearm against plain skin, with a grey sleeve at the top of the frame.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Maud, the frost came in overnight and the lane is a sheet of glass, so Jim has walked the hens round to the back shed and I have been told to sit by the range and write to you before my hands go stiff. You will laugh, but the cardinals came back to the hawthorn this morning, the pair of them, the same as the autumn you left. The cock bird sits on the top twig like he owns the parish and the hen sits lower, nearer the trunk, where the bark is thick. I counted them twice to be sure. Two.

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I have not forgotten what you said at the church gate about birds that mate for life being a sort of fool's arithmetic. Well, I have done the sums since then and I do not think you were right. Mr Halloran's boy from the post office says they stay all winter and the red shows best against the snow, which is why the village men always swore the cardinals were the only honest colour left in January. I thought of that when the postman brought your parcel, the card with the two birds on a bare branch, drawn so fine I could see the feathers lift.

So here is my answer, since you asked one and I have been too stubborn to give it. Come home for the thaw. The branch will still be there, and so will I, and I will have the kettle on and the hawthorn cleared of its last berries for you to see. Bring the good coat. There is a pair of birds that has been waiting all winter, and I would rather not be the only one who notices.

Yours, as ever, Edie

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