Tuesday, May 17, 2011

RemembeRED

My boyfriend decided he wanted to get a tattoo. It was his first one and a friend had suggested he go to the same guy he used. The tattoo guy was supposed to be reasonable and he was in the next city in the next county.
We pulled up to the house and it looked a little run down. What kind of guy does tattoos from his house. Being naive and young in love I went along with my love. I wanted to be there to see his first one.
It hit me like a ton of bricks when the guy opened the door. The smoke in the house was like a warm haze. The lights were dim through out the house and you could see the smoke like a large cloud in the room. We followed the guy through the house into his tattoo "parlor".
I hoped it would get better once we entered the room. Hoping for cleaner air. It should be sanitary when using needles. Not so much. It was just as smoky in the room.
I did my best to stifle my coughs and utter repulsiveness of the smoky smell from burning cigarettes inside a house. It didn't help that the house smelled like a humane society with cat urine. Cigarettes and cat urine. My eyes burned. It was like the moisture was sucked out by the smoke.
I don't remember how many hours I stood in that room watching...waiting... for them to finish his tattoo. It felt like forever.When I finally was able to escape the smoky hell, I breathed in like I had been drowning. I couldn't get home fast enough that night. The anticipation of a hot shower to remove the stench from my skin and hair. My clothes reeked that night. I don't know which was worse. The urine or the smoke.
I have never forgotten that evening and the sight and smell of it.



It's time for another image prompt.

Write about the first (or second) memory that comes to mind when you see this:



8 comments:

The Reason You Come said...

 Ugh. I'm all for tattoos, but that must have been a really unpleasant experience!

Michelle Pixie said...

Cigarettes always make me feel like I am suffocating even if I am outside just standing near someone taking a drag...I can't even imagine how you manage to stay in the room for more than a minute! After that experience how do you feel about tattoos? ;-)

Judy said...

Your descriptions really placed me right in the scene. Very vivid writing -- well done!

crazykindofmom said...

Thank you.

crazykindofmom said...

 Some tattoo places are pretty "seedy" but it didn't keep me from getting my own tattoo, only 16 years later. And certainly not at that place!

crazykindofmom said...

 Very much so!

le chef said...

 Ugh.  I can't believe he actually let that guy touch him!  I would have run out of there screaming.  Weird how those horrible smells stick with us.

sweetbutterbliss said...

I want to know how his tattoo turned out? I hope he didn't get some sort of infection!