Pieces (Riverdale #1)
Janine Infante Bosco
Chapter One
Jake Lanza, loved the sound of a needle buzzing against skin. He loved watching something he created,
take life on someone else. He had always had a flair for sketching, it was a favorite past time of his. He would spend hours locked in his room as a teenager, just shading his latest sketch; that was his favorite part. He could still remember his seventh grade art teacher, explaining how the light casts from one angle, and to follow that angle with your pencil. The curves become rounder, the lines more defined.
When he realized he didn’t want to be a starving artist, he decided to play around with the concept of tattooing. What drew him into it was the sentiment of it. People buy paintings they hang them up on the wall, and then when they change the room, and slap some new colorful coat of paint on those same walls, out goes the painting. A tattoo is a forever kind of thing. Usually when someone wants a tattoo, it’s for a reason, a sentiment, and it means something to them. Jake could honestly say that each one of his own tattoos had a meaning and a purpose. That’s why he loved what he did, he loved being the guy that gave you the tribute to your mother, that marked your skin with your firstborn’s handprint, and when you thought you were losing your faith, Jake was the one that restored the reminder.
Riverdale Ink was Jake’s pride and joy, it was his baby. He had opened it five years ago, after his mother told him; she wasn’t too keen on him giving tattoos in her basement. He had to admit, that, it was getting a little out of hand. He had a nice size cliental and couldn’t really be the success he strived to be working out of his mother’s basement. After sharing his vision with his dad, Joe Lanza had helped set him up with the tattoo parlor. Since the day it opened, Jake had made it his goal to be a success.
Framed photos lined the walls, showcasing all of the art he had marked along the years, as well as his fellow tattoo artists. There were two oversized black leather couches in the waiting area, accompanied by a sixty inch flat screen. He had a Bose system installed and filtered music through the whole parlor. After a year, he had to expand and hire a few other tattooists, even someone who did piercings. Riverdale Ink had six cubicles for privacy when one was getting their tattoo. He had a small room in the back, a station for piercing. It was everything he wanted it to be.
He finished the outline he was working on and paused, carefully holding the needle back, to absorb his work. The man he was working on was a soldier, just back from Afghanistan. He was marking his fallen brothers along his chest. Jake had just finished the soldier, who was kneeling around the flames, a lone tear, falling down his face. He had spent the entire week designing it, he wanted each detail perfect. His hand steady, he began to move the needle back over the skin, accentuating the teardrop, more precisely. Once it was exactly how he wanted it, he pushed his stool back and smiled at the soldier.
“There. Take a look.” He said to him, putting the needle down and grabbing a mirror for the soldier. He crossed his arms against his chest, his tattoos fully exposed, as he watched the man stare at his reflection. The moment of truth, every time it came down the unveiling, Jake held his breath for a moment.
The soldier glanced at Jake through the mirror, “Jake, it’s perfect. You hit the nail right on the head.” Emotion etched along the soldiers face as his eyes averted back to the tattoo.
“Glad, you like it. I scheduled you for the same time tomorrow to shade it in.” Jake said, as he patted the soldier on the back. “Once it’s colored in, it’ll be even more realistic.” He started covering the tattoo with A& D ointment and placed a gauze pad over it; taping the edges with surgical tape. “Take the bandage off in a couple of hours, and let it breathe.”
The soldier shrugged his shirt on and shook Jakes hand, bringing him against his chest. “Thanks Man, I love it.”