Colour tattoo of a stegosaurus with teal body, yellow and pink zigzag markings and pink back plates, on the upper arm against a white sheet.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Stegosaurus tattoo on upper arm

Upper arm · Colour · Photo

A stylised stegosaurus is tattooed on the outer upper arm, facing right with its tail extended down the limb. The body is filled with teal and green shading, with yellow, orange and pink zigzag and dash patterns across it, and the back plates are pink and red. Bold black outlines define the head, legs and tail, and the plain white background keeps the colours prominent.

Upper arm Dinosaur Reptile

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

At three in the morning the ward goes quiet in the particular way that means someone is either asleep or about to need you, and you have learned to listen for the difference. Bed six has a boy who will not settle without his dinosaur. The day sister swore the toy had gone missing in the laundry, but you find it wedged behind the radiator under the window: a plastic stegosaurus with teal sides, zigzags of yellow and orange running across its back, and plates the colour of pink rhubarb.

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You carry it down the corridor the way you would carry a full cup of tea. The boy, Kieran, is awake and staring at the ceiling tiles as if he is counting them. He takes the toy without a word and tucks it under his chin. "Its name is Gordon," he says. "Gordon doesn't like the dark. He likes the lights on the machines because they blink like fireflies." You tell him Gordon is welcome to stay on watch, and that you will be at the desk if either of them needs anything.

Back at the station the kettle takes its time. You fill in the observations chart, temperature, pulse, and the saturation reading on bed four that keeps drifting, and when you glance at the clock it says twenty to four. Through the glass you can see the boy's small shape with one hand raised above the blanket, holding Gordon up toward the blinking monitors as if he is showing him the view.

When you look in again at four, the boy's breathing has slowed into the even rhythm of sleep. Gordon sits on the pillow beside his cheek, tail curled down toward the sheet. You leave the little reading lamp on, because somebody has to keep an eye on the lights, and Gordon has a shift to finish.