“They seem to be,” Big Sue said, her lips pursed.
“It was in Darlington that I had all of my tattoos done,” Mark said. They were heading up North Road, the long street that went into the town centre. It was the street Penny thought of as the exciting one: all pubs, cinemas, sex shops and taxidermists. “The shop was called Tattoo You and it’s still down here somewhere. I’ve never been back for years.”
Penny stared at the designs on his face. She hadn’t had a very clear look at him before, or dared to ask many questions about them. He’d brought the subject up today, so she felt free to ask. It took her mind off Craig. “How old were you when you first got done?”
He laughed. “Pardon?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Oh...I forget, really. But I reckon I was under the age you’re meant to be. I used to come on the bus with my best mate, Tony. It was all his idea. I was so scared the first time. You’ve no idea.”
“Did Tony get tattoos?”
“He never did.”
“Was he scared?”
“I don’t think so. He never looked it. And he loved to watch it happen, loved to watch me get it done.’ Mark smiled. ‘It ended up with him designing my tattoos. He was a wonderful artist, you know, though he never did very well at art in school. They didn’t think much of what he did. But he’d make up things, work them out on paper. Then he would draw them on my skin in biro, the nights before we went to Tattoo You. The woman there —Marjorie, they called her — used to go over Tony’s lines and colour it all in.”
“Show me one he drew on you.” Mark lifted up his T-shirt sleeve to show his right shoulder. Underneath, reaching into his shaved armpit, he had a centipede in scarlet and gold, its legs twisted in all directions. Penny thought, What a thing to have crawling into your armpit! It was like an optical illusion because the insect jigsawed precisely with a bird on one side, some kind of eagle, and a furled orchid which went round to his chest. She could see only parts of these things down the short sleeve of his top.
“But why did you get so many?”
“I dunno. It’s like an addiction.” He thought. “But it’s also like balancing up. You get something on one arm, then you need the other one doing. One leg, and the other needs the same. With a clock on one tit, the other will need a balance. You spend all your time weighing yourself up, making it all balance…next thing you know, you’re on your way to being covered.”
“Right,” she said and could see how it happened. “I still don’t think it’s fair that this mate of yours, Tony, wasn’t brave enough to get any done.”
“That was just Tony.” Mark was about to add, “And besides, you don’t know what it’s like.” He stopped himself and the words froze in his throat. Penny had pulled up her many layers to reveal her taut, pale stomach. There she had a hummingbird, its fine green beak pointed at her navel. “I got this in Whitley Bay last year,” she said.
“Smart,” said Mark, leaning in to see.
“What’s he doing now?” Big Sue asked, hardly daring to look.
“I can’t see,’ said Jane. “But she’s lifting up her clothes and he’s bending to have a look at something.”
“This is disgraceful!” Big Sue fidgeted with the clasp on her handbag.
The bus swung round the last roundabout before the town centre. Jane was up on her feet, ready to get off. “I’m sure Elsie’s going to be pleased to hear about this. She thought a lot of that Penny.”
“Oh, you can’t interfere...” Big Sue began, but Jane had already set off for the front of the bus, where Penny was still exposing her belly for Mark.
Jane slipped past trying not to look.
Mark saw her and grinned, turning away from Penny. He was about to say something when he remembered what Fran had told him. Jane had it in for him.
Penny waited downstairs in the café while Mark went to the
loo. It was chintzy and genteel, full of pensioners. The waitress took her order and she said coffee for Mark, as he’d asked.
“Now, does he want milk, hot milk or cream?” asked the waitress worriedly.
“No idea,” said Penny.
“Let me think.” The waitress tapped her teeth with her pen. “He has hot milk, does Mark. Normally.” Then she was gone.
Penny sat thinking. She wished she’d asked Mark if he’d had his whole body tattooed. Perhaps the moment had already passed. Could you ask a question like that without blushing and seeming prurient? She had read somewhere that it was impossible to put a tattoo on the penis. Its poor tender shaft bruised the instant you started to apply that kind of pressure. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to ask.
He reappeared and smiled, taking his place at the green marble-topped table. “Now,” he said. “Tell Uncle Mark all about it.”
She found that was exactly what she wanted to do. She started with New Year’s Eve and told him bit by bit how she’d ended up settling for Craig.
“Is that how you think of it?” Mark frowned. “That you’ve ‘settled for’ him?”
She thought. “I suppose I must.”
“You’re tying yourself down and you’re not even sure.” He sipped at his coffee, but it was still too hot. “Listen, I could tell you a thing or two about settling for things. Sometimes it seems like the best thing to do.” He stared at her and the effect was mesmerising. “And whatever you settle for, there’s always something to be salvaged out of the situation.”
“And there was!” Penny burst
