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| Sunday, March 18, 2007 |
| Tattoo-Total |
Ata recalls with great clarity the first moment she noticed tattoos. It was at a public swimming pool, when a man removed his shirt to reveal a chest-and-back collage of inkwork that had sprawled also down his arms. Little Ata was fascinated.
"Mum," she asked the font of all knowledge, "why does that man have pictures all over him?"
Little Ata's mother looked at the specimen in question.
"That means," she replied with great dignity, "that he does not look after his skin."
Little Ata wondered about this for years. Specifically, she wondered what the criteria were for not lookng after one's skin, how poor skin-carers were identified, and who it was that enforced their picturification. She did also consider the possibility that the pictures simply developed if one did not take proper care of one's skin, but eventually dismissed this as unlikely. After all - why would a skin disorder caused by insufficient moisturiser or not wearing a hat in the sun manifest as a burning skull and a skeleton on a motorcycle? No, she decided, it was more likely that the worse care one took of one's skin, the more pictures were added to declare their poor stewardship to the world.
As you may imagine, Little Ata took the application of sunscreen very seriously, having gathered that being permanently marked as a careless skincarer was a Bad Thing. After all, the exact criteria for what degree of carelessness earned what inking were part of that large body of knowledge that Little Ata presumed she would be made privy to when she Grew Up. One would not want to aim for, say, a lizard or tiger but be branded instead with a topless mermaid.
Very many years later, Young Adult Ata had a gecko drawn on the inside of her left wrist during University Orientation Week. When her Mother asked on the telephone that evening what Ata had done during the day, Ata replied slyly - "I got a tattoo."
"What?!" Ata's Mother gasped, "Do you know how long those things last?!"
"Oh yes," said Ata with confidence and - dare I say it - panache, "About three days."
Oh yes. Ata likes to tease her Mother. |
posted by Ata @ 10:38 pm  |
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| 2 Comments: |
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Heh heh. Mean Ata.
But then, Ata's mother was also rather teasy with the whole tattoo cautionary tale thing. I think Ata was simply returning the tease, and rather justly, if the tattoo confusion of Young Ata is anything to go by.
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Heh heh heh. Devil child.
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Heh heh. Mean Ata.
But then, Ata's mother was also rather teasy with the whole tattoo cautionary tale thing. I think Ata was simply returning the tease, and rather justly, if the tattoo confusion of Young Ata is anything to go by.