A tiny old woman approached me at Dunkin Donuts this morning as I sipped my coconut iced coffee, waiting for my cinnamon raisin bagel. High off of her morning coffee, she stabbed a bony finger at my arm and said "So, how do you get by with that on you?".
I looked down at her nonchalantly, took a hit off of my coffee, and then looked down at my tattoos as if noticing them for the first time. "What do you mean?" I asked, knowing full well what she meant but wanting to hear her say it.
She got flustered.
"Well, don't they hurt?"
"Nope," I said grinning, "they just tickled!"
She thought this was hilarious. She asked me what they were and as I explained to her that they were a phoenix and a dragon, I could hear another old woman relating the entire conversation to her friend, who clearly had trouble hearing. I caught the translator's eye as the first old lady took her leave of me, and she said, "That could have been your mother talking to you like that."
I laughed. "My mother hates these things."
"I'll bet she does." She shook her head seriously.
"But I wear a t-shirt with long enough sleeves when I'm with her so that she doesn't have to see them."
"Oh do you? That's a good boy." she said approvingly, and then to her friend, "He said he wears a long sleeve shirt so his mother doesn't have to see them."
"Oh does he? He's a good boy."
