Eighteen

She walked in as if she were a normal customer, spoke to the receptionist. She’d made an appointment with just her first name; no one made the connection. She sat, she waited patiently. When her name was called, she went back to his station.

“Hi, Dad.”

He stared at her for a long, intense moment, and then asked, “You know what you want?”

She laid the reference art out on his station, arranged as they would appear on her skin.

“You can afford it?”

“Paid up front.”

He shrugged, managed a wan smile. “Well then. I guess, hop on up.”

7 comments:

  1. And will Dad be available when the time comes - to remove it? :-)

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    1. I'm assuming she's chosen art that's significant to her and won't eventually remove it. Most tattoo owners don't, after all.

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  2. Clever point of view...I look forward to your weekly offerings...

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    1. Thanks very much, and thank you for reading and commenting. :-)

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  4. If they're gonna taint their skin - they'll taint their skin! At least this father was on hand - literally - to make sure each tattoo had his full and utter approval - and inked in a decent bodily area (unlike my MT shows!).

    I so enjoyed the unique path this post took, David.

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    1. I don't really think of tattooing as 'tainting' the skin, and as an 18 year old, she didn't really need his 'approval'. The story was about his realizing that she was an adult with agency and control over her own body.

      Thank you for reading and commenting. :-)

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