A Special Symbol

The Daily Word #85: gentle

Photo by erick sndvl on Unsplash

“Hey, strange question…” Mona had been wondering for a while, but hadn’t asked.

“Yeah?” Frances turned off her tattoo gun.

“Is there any way you could make this not hurt as much? Like, what if you were more gentle?”

“There isn’t really a more gentle way to shoot ink under someone’s epidermis. I mean, I won’t be pressing too hard with the gun, because if the ink goes too deep, the ink will spread out and we’ll lose the definition — ”

“Words like ‘shoot’ and ‘gun’ don’t make me feel at ease.”

Frances sighed. “Look, you know that tattoos hurt. I thought you’d have enough time to mentally prepare for the pain as I was sketching.”

“Maybe you can make it a little smaller?”

“Sure. I can wipe it off and redraw it, but that’ll take more time, and I charge by the hour.”

“Oh, yeah, let’s not do that,” Mona didn’t hesitate. “Just go ahead and start. I’m ready!” She grit her teeth and put her head down, gripping the sides of the table.

Frances turned the tattoo gun on and then noticed Mona’s wrinkled shoulder blades. “Um, that’s not going to work. Now your shoulders are all tensed up and I can’t tattoo your back like that. This only works if you relax.”

“Okay,” Mona sighed. Her mind tried to will her body to relax, but it remained rigid.

“Still too tense,” Frances was getting impatient.

“What if I was buzzed? Maybe I can pop a CBD gummy?”

“No, absolutely not. I will not tattoo anyone under the influence.”

Mona sat up, holding her bra in place. She turned to look at Frances. “I just don’t know if I can do this.”

Frances turned off the gun and placed it down. She glared at Mona. “Look at me.”

Mona’s eyes looked up to meet Frances’s.

“You came here three months ago babbling about how important it was to you to get a flower tattoo with your daughter’s name on it. You wanted something permanent … something about bonding, right?”

Mona nodded.

“You do know you don’t need a tattoo with your daughter’s name to bond with your daughter, right?”

“Yes, but — ”

“You said this would be a special symbol. It’ll show the world that she is the most important person to you.”

“Exactly!”

Frances moved her face forward, almost nose-to-nose with Mona’s. “Then lie back down on your damn stomach and suck it up, and let me tattoo your daughter’s name on your shoulder!”

Speechless, Mona lay back down. Her body decompressed. Frances had terrified it into compliance.

Mona felt the needle repetitively pierce her skin. It hurt like hell, but she dared not complain.

This story was written for the Frequency Change publication:

[embed]The Daily Word #85 Tuesday, August 18thmedium.com

Read this story from Michelle Liew about an accidental trendsetter, inspired by a previous prompt:

[embed]The Stripeless Pioneer TDW #83 — Striped — 271 wordsmedium.com