Page 138 of Nash Falls

“All depends on how you definelaw-abidin’,” Shock had replied. “And right now, leastways in the eyes of the law, that definitely don’t include you.”

Nash was wheeled into a small room where the anesthetist and a nurse were waiting. They didn’t really look at him. They asked a few basic questions and that was it.

Shock said the artists were waiting in the other room and would begin their work once Nash was fully under.

He whispered to Nash, “They ain’t never gonna see your face, Walter, just the skin they be inking, so don’t worry.”

Nash had said to the anesthetist, “Do I count backward from ten to one?”

“If you want,” said the doctor indifferently.

At nine, Nash’s eyes closed and he was out for the count.

He never heard the artists come in, or felt the stencils being layered over his body, or anything else, really. When he woke up, just over nine hours had passed.

The nurse checked him out. The doctor checked him out. And then they both left with their fees paid, in cash.

The artists had also already left, with their fees also paid and no photos allowed of the work they’d just done. Shock had thrown in an extra twenty percent so there were no hard feelings, since the artists liked to put their work online to solicit other clients, Nash had been told.

It was now just Shock and Nash left in the room.

When Nash was sufficiently recovered from the anesthesia, Shock gingerly helped him up.

Nash groaned. “Damn, I feel like I was just run over by a truck.”

“Well, man, they done a number on your body packing all that into one day. You gonna be sore and hurting for a while. And your skin will feel like someone used a cheese grater on it.”

Nash winced and bent over for a few moments, clearly in pain. “You didn’t mention this part of it, Shock.”

“Well, you might not ’a done it if I had.”

Shock helped him over to a full-length mirror, then handed him a hand mirror so he could see his back. “Check yourself out, dude. Impressive.”

To Nash it was like he was staring at another person. It obviously wasn’t simply the hardened muscle he’d acquired that made him look like an anatomical chart, but the tats had changed everything about him. Even the chain with the kinks. While not large, they had done something to him, his… presence. It was altered, markedly so. He touched his nose where Shock had broken it nearly a year before in the boxing ring and then manually reset it. It had firmed up at a slightly different angle and slope and also changed much about his appearance. He was sure that even Judith would not recognize him.

“Holy shit” was all he could think to say.

“Yeah, I hear you man,” said Shock. “Now you got to shower, but don’t let the water hit the tats too long. You gonna use Saniderm, it’ll help you heal faster. I’ll help bandage you up. Good for twenty-four hours and then another shower. Then we’ll bandage you up again, and you wear ’em for five days. Saniderm really reduces the scabbin’ and peelin’. But it still gonna itch a little, Walter. But youcannotscratch. No lie.”

“What do I do then?”

“Just slap it, baby. That’s all. Justslapit.”

“How’d I do when I was under?”

“Okay. Only thing they was worried about was you goin’ into shock.”

“Into shock!”

“Tats that large are a major assault on the biggest organ in the body, your skin. But it was cool, no problems. Your vitals were perfect the whole time.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that might happen?”

“Hell, it might ’a made you so nervous youwouldagone into shock.”

Nash showered, and Shock helped him apply the Saniderm and bandages. Then he redid them twenty-four hours later. On the fifth day the bandages came off, and Nash was able to admire his tats once more.

When he flexed his arm, the head of the dragon seemed to move. The same with the lion on his back, which seemed to roar when he manipulated his traps, lats, and rhomboid muscles.