The tattoo shop was unique to say the least. There were painted black bamboo shoots on the white building neatly tucked between a smoke shop and a Salvation Army, with a big sign in the middle that said TATTOOS.
The boy walked inside and saw tons of pictures of tattoos plastered all over the walls, as well as various stands with books containing tattoo ideas. As the boy approached the counter with the old man, he noticed there was only one chair in the middle of the floor behind the counter.
Not only that, but there was also an array of various weapons lining the walls of the main floor. Behind a desk next to the tattoo chair, reading a newspaper, sat a clean shaven old white man whose arms were covered in tattoos. He was looking through a small pair of reading glasses, wearing a Hawaiian button up, a fedora, and a Hawaiian fish hook necklace.
He looked up over his glasses at the two and smiled, standing up as he folded his newspaper down and placed it on the table.
“Welcome to Only Skin Deep!” He said brightly, staring the boy directly in the eyes. “Where it hurts sooooo good!”
He smiled when he said this, both he and the old man laughed out loud at the statement.
“How ya doing Rick?” Asked the old man.
“Blessed, sir. Very blessed. What can I do for you today?” He asked.
“My grandson here has earned his dragon.” Said the old man, clasping both hands on the boy’s shoulders.
“Really?” Asked Rick curiously. “This is your grandson?”
The old man nodded.
Rick stepped forward towards the front of the counter.
“Looks about the same age as his father was when he got his dragon.”
“You tattooed my dad?” Asked the boy.
They laughed.
“Rick has been in business over 50 years. He tattooed every member of the Red Dragons, as well as every member of our family.” Explained the old man.
“I haven’t tattooed a dragon in a long time. I still have the original in here somewhere.” Said Rick.
He turned around towards his tattoo station and started opening drawers, fishing through folders of old tattoos he had once completed.
The boy looked around and marveled at the shop. All of the weapons on display, a glass case that was built into the wooden counter displayed old hot wheels, origami dollars, and various newspaper articles.
“What are all the weapons for?” He said out loud.
“I accept trades!” Said Rick, thumbing through a vanilla folder. “People will bring me rare weapons as they know I collect them, and in return I will give them a tattoo.”
He heard the file cabinet close shut as he approached the counter again.
“Here it is.” Rick said, placing the paper on the counter.
It was a red dragon in a karate stance performing a front kick, the same as the old mans faded one on his right arm, except the old man wasn’t in color.
“Wow.” Said the boy.
Rick gave a big grin, then grew very serious. He grabbed a couple of papers from his desk and put them in front of the boy.
“Fill this out please.” He said.
The boy filled out the contract Rick had given him, underlying all of the costs, as well as his personal information.
The old man stepped forward, looked at the price, and pulled a few hundreds from his pocket and gave it to the boy. Once all of the paperwork had been signed, the boy paid Rick.
“Give me about an hour to draw this up. Feel free to wait patiently here, peruse the shop books, or go ahead and play.”
He motioned to a small children’s area with those wooden and metal dowels you see at doctors offices. The boy looked at him resentfully as both Rick and the old man laughed.
The boy decided he would look at some of the art work he had stored inside of the books at the counter. Rick stared over his glasses at the boy as he prepped his stencil.
“Please leave the books on the counter at the counter, and place them back in the order of which you took them.” The boy looked at Rick, who winked at him and smiled.
The boy nodded his head, and began to look through the books as the old man sat down in an armchair nearby, folded his arms, tilted his head back, and closed his eyes.
The boy realized that Rick had done hundreds, if not thousands of tattoos. He asked him if he had drawn every single one of the tattoo ideas he was seeing in the books.
“And then some!” He replied, laughing as he continued sketching out his dragon.
“All done!” He said standing up.
He placed the finished stencil on the counter for the boy to see. In a very serious and professional tone, he said,
“If there is anything you would like to change just let me know.”
“It’s perfect.” Said the boy, “It looks amazing.”
Rick smiled, taking the sketch back and placing it on his table, he made his way to the entrance of the floor that was conveniently blocked off by one of those thick ropes you would see in front of nightclubs. He unhooked the rope and stepped aside.
“Well then please step forward.”