Page 3 of Brand
“You got someone special then?” she asked.
“No. Haven’t had time.” That was partially true. I hadn’t been actively looking for anyone was more the truth. The bell on the shop door jingled. “Ethel, my next appointment’s here. I’ll call you the moment I open the box.”
“Alright. I hope it’s an old man that wants you to tattoo his wrinkly dick.”
“Thanks for that,” I laughed as I tried to wipe the image out of my mind. I hadn’t come across a customer with that request yet, but that wasn’t to say it wouldn’t happen one day. And no, I didn’t have a clue what I’d do when that situation presented itself. “Bye, Ethel.”
With a blink, I switched into work mode. I didn’t have time to think about things that would never be or the reasons why and how I’d ended up here. The truth might have been that I didn’t let myself go there because I wasn’t sure if I was ready to figure out all the answers. I knew deep down that I might not like them. But that was the great thing about keeping busy and constantly having people around, it gave me an excuse to keep avoiding.
By nature, I was in my head a lot. I wouldn’t say that I lived in my head, but being an artist, my brain was constantly working out the angles of every situation. I knew they weren’t stories and the details of the past could never be changed, but that didn’t stop me from always wondering ‘why’ to everything.
That was my biggest life mystery, you could have said. While I could see all the little threads that weaved themselves together and brought me to the place that I was, I wasn’t always so sure that if just one of those threads had been removed that I’d end up here. Right here, sitting in this shop that oddly smelled like home to me. Dipping my needle into a tiny cap of ink and making the image in my head come alive on someone’s skin.
But then again, I wouldn’t want life to be any different. So, really, it was silly to wonder such things. If I was honest with myself, I would have said that I wouldn’t have changed a thing in the past. That if I was given a choice, I would choose the same exact path. The future may be uncertain, but I could have said that I wasn’t worried about it. In my heart, I knew it would turn out how it was meant to be.
I mean, it wasn’t like I really would know any differently, anyway.
