Page 7 of Blue

Blue frowned deeper. “Well, I-”

“How you doing, folks?” A man asked as he approached them, rubbing his hands together and drawing their attention.

The women stood. Blue’s aunt held the book of his work to her chest.

“I’m Gizmo,” he introduced himself with a wave. “I hear one of you is in the market for a tattoo today?”

He was roughly the same height as Blue, with a stocky build and a bushy beard. He wore checkered shorts, green Vans, and a Green Day T-shirt. Nothing matched. His hair—good God, his hair. The rusty colored strands stood up and out at every angle. Had he bathed ever in life?

She couldn’t smell him from that distance, but she’d bet good money he smelled like patchouli and weed. Maybe B.O. too.

Yep, the name Gizmo made sense.

“Uh, no.” Blue shook her head.

His brows drew together in confusion.

“I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to waste your time.” Blue tugged at her aunt. “Not today.”

“Wait a minute.” Aunt Elaine dug her heels in. “Let’s talk to him first.”

Blue’s eyes widened as she faced her aunt. She did her best to blink in Morse code to get Aunt Elaine to understand they needed to go. This shop wasn’t right. That guy wasn’t right. She wouldn’t be able to apprentice for him. He was a mess.

He was no Mooky Retz.

Was anyone as good as him? Of course, there were people of his caliber, better even. They just weren’t available to her. To her knowledge, Mooky was the best in Ohio. She wanted to learn from the best. Finding someone to teach her the skills she needed to be at the top felt impossible.

“Do you do apprenticeships here?” Her aunt asked.

Blue closed her eyes and covered her face. This wasn’t what she wanted.

“We do,” the tattooer responded reluctantly.

“My niece here.” Aunt Elaine grabbed Blue’s arms and rubbed them affectionately. “She needs a mentor.”

“Oh,” he said, bewildered. “I uh.”

“How long have you been tattooing?”

Blue wished the floor would open and swallow her.

“Seven years.” Pride soaked his words.

Her head snapped up.That’s it? Seven years?

Her aunt nodded beside her. “And do you think you have the expertise and skills to mentor someone else?”

“Um.” He glanced between the two with the confidence draining from his features. “I-”

“You’re not very sure of yourself.”

This couldn’t get any worse. Her aunt flipped on him, and Blue had no means of escape.

“Now wait-” The poor guy thought he’d get work and instead got two crazy ladies questioning his ability.

“I think we’ll look elsewhere.” Aunt Elaine placed the book down. “It was lovely meeting you. It’s a great shop, but not what we’re looking for.”

“Uh. Thank you?”

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