“It’s Bad Luck to Die” by Elizabeth McCracken is a relatively touching story in the viewpoint of the wife of a much older tattoo artist. Lois meets Tiny when she goes with her cousin Babs, who gets a tiny red and black bow inked onto her butt. The two fell for each other quickly and Tiny began his work on this new canvas that is Lois.
This story is particularly interesting to me given my interest in the art of tattooing, more specifically the interest in acquiring more. The imagery the author writes into this piece is amazing, making the reader feel as if they are catching a glimpse of the pair, sitting together, Tiny with his needle in hand, and Lois sat in front of him waiting to have another clear bit of canvas space filled by some intricate design of another president or television character. Or of both shaking hands and sharing a blunt.
It is wonderfully concluded with a particularly interesting quote Lois speaks to a man inquiring about her body which had been so carefully carved into by her husband, the love of her life:
I am not a museum, not yet, I’m a love letter, a love letter.