Black silhouette of a dachshund with a teal collar, held aloft by a teal balloon on a thin line, tattooed on the lower leg.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Dachshund silhouette holding a teal balloon

Calf · Mixed · Photo

A solid black silhouette of a dachshund sits with its head turned to the right, tied to a teal balloon by a thin black string with a small bow at the collar. The dog wears a teal collar, and the balloon has a lighter, mottled teal shading with a pinkish tint near its centre. The design is set against plain pale skin and sits centrally on the lower leg.

Calf Dog Balloon Collar String Silhouette

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The balloon had been Mrs Pargeter's, bought at the fête for her grandson and let go at the gate when he cried, and by the time it reached our orchard it had already decided it was staying. I found Biscuit under the Bramley tree at six, sitting very upright, his long body wedged between two low boughs, the string snagged on a twig above him. He looked at me the way dachshunds look at you when they have done something reasonable and expect credit for it.

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"Don't," I said. "I know. You were holding it."

He had been holding it, in his way, by the collar. Mrs Pargeter's grandson had tied the string to the teal ribbon around Biscuit's neck that morning, a bow the size of a fist, and Biscuit had walked off through the wet grass with the balloon bobbing ahead of him like a small, obedient moon. Nobody had told him he could not do that. Nobody had told the balloon either.

I climbed the ladder with the picking bag still on my shoulder and worked the string free while the late sun came through the leaves in coins. Wasps circled the windfalls in the long grass. When the balloon finally came loose it lifted at once, pulling sideways over the hedge, and Biscuit gave one sharp bark of protest, as if it had been his to lose.

We watched it go over the church tower and out toward the reservoir, a green speck, then nothing. I expected him to sulk. Instead he trotted back to the ladder, sat down on my boot, and looked up with his head tilted, waiting for the next thing to happen. I gave him a Cox from the bag. He ate it in four bites and went to sleep in the windfalls.