She pulled her shopping trolley over to the side of the aisle and did something she wouldn’t usually do. She rolled her sleeves up her frail bony arms, which in turn revealed one of her tattoos. It had just been so hot and although she had hoped the supermarket would have been cooler than outside, the heat was still quite unbearable.

It wasn’t long til she was accosted by a shopper. “Oh yeah, still rocking it! Awesome tatoo!” The shopper thrust her own elbows towards her.

She struggled to focus with her impaired sight finally able to make out the names Skylar and Tylar scrawled in oversized italics across the forearms.

The shopper thought she needed to provide more explanation “They’re my children’s names they mean so much to me.” She continued in this vein sharing the true meaning behind the images on her body with her new found friend united by their tatts. At one point the shopper proudly pulled down her tshirt just enough to show the top of her cleavage. There was a dog, almost leaping from the top of one breast to another. Beside it was a date. “Aw when my poor Dotty passed, I just knew I had to have her on my body in remembrance.” The shopper only drew breath after she said she had other tattoos in private places but that they were too personal to talk about.

After an awkward pause the shopper said “What’s the meaning behind yours?”

“It doesn’t mean anything. It’s a mark of regret. It’s youth imprinted on my body. And just like my youth, it cannot be changed. I can’t just rub it out. It’s there. Forever. “ She silently passed by the shopper’s trolley with her own, not looking back.