Photograph of a woman in a black wide-brimmed hat and black bikini, with black and grey tattoo sleeves on her upper arms and forearms, standing on rocks by the sea.

Woman in a sun hat with arm tattoos by the sea

Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A woman in a black wide-brimmed hat and black bikini stands on rocks by turquoise water, her face hidden by the hat. Both arms are covered in dense black and grey tattoos across the forearms and upper arms, with fine shading and ornamental detail. The composition places her centrally against a sea, a hillside and a white building, with a warm, muted colour palette.

Forearm Upper arm Woman Hat Bikini Sea Rock Sleeve Arm tattoo Ornamental

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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The tide was out again this morning, so I walked down past the engine house to the black rocks where you used to dare me to jump. The sea had left its lace all over the shelves, pale fronds and little knotted weeds, and I thought of the pattern you drew on the back of the coal-chit last winter, the one you said you'd carry on your arm if they let you go to sea and never come back to the pit. You called it a sleeve of ironwork. I told you it looked like the gates at chapel.

Mam has taken to the chair by the range and won't say much, but she asked after you yesterday and I told her you were sending money from Falmouth. That was half a lie, and she knew it, because she counted the tins in the larder and said nothing. The shift whistle still goes at six. Dad's old lamp hangs where it did, and I keep the wick trimmed so it's ready if anyone comes up the lane with news.

Mr Pascoe at the harbour office says the ship's papers came back with your name crossed out. I don't know what that means and I'm afraid to ask him twice.

If you're still on this side of the water, come home by the spring tide. Bring the drawing. I'll cut the design into the back of the door so the sun catches it every morning, and we'll see whether the rocks still look like lace from the top of the hill.

Love, Ada