Chapter 15 : Marked Man - September

10 Months, 384 Days After Jenny's Disappearance

I am standing in the office at Ink Inc, looking over Ros Buchannan's shoulder at an image of me on the computer screen. A complex Celtic pattern swirls up my right leg, across the top of my bum, up my back, over my left shoulder and onto my pec. It sends a spur down towards the crack between my buttocks and another towards my right scapula.

Ros is just as attractively dressed as she was last time. Today she wears a close fitting white tank top which ends in a black leather skirt. My eyes follow it down to see her bare brown legs emerging from beneath the hem. She is wearing some leather flip flop sandals on her bare feet which lets me see a shower of stars coursing around her ankle and up her calf to vanish beneath the skirt. A gold ring surrounds one of her toes.

"So what d'ya think?'

"Astonishing – and huge!"

"Yep; I thought bold is what you need"

"Why?"

"You are being heroic and this is heroic. Nice fit!"

"So take me through the thinking behind this."

"First, you said you were anxious about tiring of the design. That's a very real problem for some people, so I have chosen ancient symbols and patterns. These have already stood the test of time. I have chosen to work with Celtic images as these will be a nice complement to Jenny's Chinese dragon."

I am pleased she said that. It's why I'm here, certainly, and I like her assumption that Jenny and I are going to be back together again sometime soon.

"The symbols all have a story to tell. Tattoos always say something. Maybe it's a souvenir of a place you visited or a rite of passage in your life. It's also possible to go to a deeper level and use images and symbols to tell a story." She stops, conscious that she's evangelising a little. I don't mind: her enthusiasm is infectious. She smiles and points to the centre of the design. "Let's start here."

"That's a cross?"

"Yes. In the Christian story God sends his Son to rescue his people and the Son is prepared to make any sacrifice in order to succeed and obey his Father, even unto death. You are looking for Jenny to rescue her and will go anywhere and do anything to find her and bring her home?"

"Yes, of course"

"So there you are: The Celtic Cross."

"Around the cross I have placed the circle of eternity, to show your lifelong commitment to Jenny and your enduring love. You are not able to find her all on your own. You need the help and support of friends, so here is the Bird of Fellowship wrapped around the Cross and the Circle of Eternity. Then there are the last three creatures; the Serpent of Wisdom, the Hound of Faithfulness and the Lion of Courage. I thought you would need each and every one of those virtues and having them drawn on you – whatever the outcome of this, you are making a statement about the sort of person you are and the values you hold."

I'm impressed. Of course I knew there was a lot of symbolism in these designs but I hadn't thought it could be made to relevant to me and my situation. "Wow, Ros. That is astonishing. I thought you would just be talking about a design but this, this is an essay!"

"So you would like to take this forward?"

I have no difficulty in agreeing. I'd thought that I might lose my nerve at this point but it's quite the reverse. Ros's rationale for the design has made me feel enthusiastic about it; anxious, even, to get on with it.

"Definitely. I would be proud to have something like this."

"Not too big?"

"Not now!"

"OK this is what we are going to do. I have a preliminary stencil made up. I will lay the design down on you and go over it with a permanent ink marker. That will give you several days to "try it out" before the ink starts to wash off. If you still feel the same, then I'll make an appointment for you to draw the permanent out line – and that will be permanent. Absolutely permanent. Absolutely no going back from that point, ever.

That's going to be the toughest session because I will be quite literally laying down the foundation for the whole design. When it comes to the detailing and the in-fill, I will break that up into several individual sessions. After all, I want you to look forward to coming to see me"

"Time scale?"

"Oh, this is going to take twelve to eighteen months. However, by the end of each step you will look 'finished'. That's why I do all of the foundation outline in one go. You will need to take a day off for that and you might want to stay in London that night rather than drive back to Warwick or grapple with the trains."

"OK, Ros. What can I say? Thank you seems inadequate. Inadequate for all the ingenuity and effort you have put into this. I must confess that I'm sacred too, though!"

"Ha! Well, Joseph, it's a pleasure. Yes, you should be a bit nervous; it's a big step after all. Let's go through to my studio. You can get your kit off in there and I will print off the stencils."

So now I am standing naked in front of this delightful girl who is going to modify my body irrevocably and I am enjoying every moment of the attention I am getting.

Ros returns and sprays my body with some warm water to moisten the skin. She takes each part of the stencil and carefully lays it down, massaging the thin paper so the outline transfers on to my skin. The process takes quite a long time. Ros is exacting. I guess I expected that. I'm quite glad too. The last thing you'd want hear during a tattoo session is, "Whoops!" Finally she draws over the design with a soft tipped ink marker pan. It's tickly and once more, the physical attention is – encouraging. There has been no-one to "play" with my body since Jenny disappeared and I realise now that it's one of the things I have missed.

"You did not take the design across my bum?

"Right across your buttocks?"

"Yes, for some reason I thought you might"

"Well, I thought the tattoo would take a more interesting route if I went up and across the top. Besides, I wanted to leave your butt clear for Jenny to give you a good spanking when she gets back, without worrying about doing damage to the tattoo!"

"What about to me?"

"You? – men can take a good spanking or a caning or even better a spanking first to warm up and a caning or whipping after to finish off. It's good for them. Keeps them in their place!"

"Are you joking?" (Agh! Ros's banter is starting to make me hard; I'm quite glad I'm laying on my front.)

"Hmmm, maybe - and maybe not."

Ros's emphasis on not clearly means she believes what she says!

I have to concentrate hard to keep myself down. She laughs and I laugh too and after that I feel as if (somehow) I have accepted her point. As I lay on her "operating table" I can see through into the office, to the wall with its collection of pictures and drawings, to Jenny who keeps unending watch from her photograph that is still up there with the others. As I catch sight of her image, she seems to smile more broadly and although it is just a trick of my eyes and brain, it makes me feel especially glad, to be where I am and glad to be doing what I am doing.

When she has finished, Ros photographs me again and I get the opportunity to see the design on my skin for the first time as I stand in front of the mirror in her studio. 'It now looks even better than it did on the computer image.

"You know, Ros, you should go ahead and tattoo this properly. Right now."

"Yeah, well, maybe, but first I want this to be right and there might be a point or two you are not happy with. You're more likely to see that if you have to live with it a while. Also, I can review the photographs, and think again about the way it looks on you, so there could be some modifications needed before we go ahead properly. Second, I have another client in fifteen minutes and finally you have an appointment with Emma! You did remember I said I was going to hand you over to her?"