Oct 11, 2007 23:22
Christina Ferris
English 095 TTH 6:00pm
Mrs. McCormick
October 9, 2007
Walking into Jade Monkey Tattoo made my adrenaline rush. I was finally eighteen years old and able to get my first tattoo. I was nervous. My hands were shaking. A particular scent filled the air. It reminded me of Neosporin being applied to a fresh wound. I could hear the sounds of the needles in the guns moving at hundreds of miles an hour to apply the ink into the skin. That made me even more nervous. I imagined this process would be fairly painful.
As soon as I walked in the door I was greeted by Zack, the store manager. “Hey there girl! You here for your appointment?” I had made an appointment a few days prior to this. The twenty dollars that I paid would go towards the cost of the tattoo. I replied “I sure am. Is Jesse almost ready?” Zack nodded and told me to have a seat on the couch. It was black and had velvet like feel to it. I looked around. The walls were covered with posters and framed pictures of different tattoos. I saw one with a woman who had angel wings on her back. I wished I could afford to get a tattoo like that. They had numerous books and magazines lying on the table and counters with different types of piercings. I assumed the pictures were taken right there in the shop as soon as the piercing was done.
I had zoned into the pictures so much that I had not realized that about twenty minutes had gone by and Zack was approaching me to let me know that Jesse was ready. My hands had begun to shake again. I became nervous, excited and anxious all at once. My stomach was in knots. Jesse had drawn the outline on a piece of paper that would be placed on my skin in the exact location and position that I wanted the tattoo as if it were only temporary. The outline was of a confederate flag seeming as if it had been torn into my skin. It was beautiful. The place I had chosen for this particular tattoo was on my left shoulder blade. I imagined that the needles going over bone would be extremely painful.
Jesse began to remove what little bit of hair surrounded that area. He then applied a layer of some sort of antibacterial solution to my back and placed the piece of paper with the outline in the position I wanted it. “Go look in the mirror and make sure this is where you want your tattoo.” I walked over to the mirror and turned around to look at my back. It was the perfect position. It stretched over my shoulder blade and ended at a point towards my spine. I looked over at Jesse “It’s perfect.” I said he motioned for me to sit down on the chair in front of him. “Okay, we are going to start with black ink and I am going to do the outline which is exactly what you see on your back.” Jesse explained. “Are you ready?” he asked. I grinned and nodded with anxiety twisting my stomach into an even tighter knot. The process had officially begun.
I immediately heard the sound of the needle behind my back. I waited for any slight tingle to let me know that he had begun to draw the permanent black ink onto my flesh.