Black and grey dotwork tattoo of three cats stacked in a pyramid on striped balls, on the calf.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Three cats balancing on striped balls

Dotwork · Calf · Black and grey · Photo

Three cats are stacked in a pyramid, with the top cat balanced on the two below, and each of the two lower cats stands on a striped ball. The outlines are bold and the bodies are shaded with dense dots and short hatching, with striped bands on the balls. The design is rendered in black ink on pale skin, with the image centred on the leg.

Dotwork Calf Cat Ball Pyramid

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The third ball rolled off the cart on the hill road, and by the time Walter had hauled the horse to a stop, Sergeant was already climbing onto the other two. Dulcie took his weight with a grunt Walter swore he could hear over the wind. Ambrose, who had been promised the top of the pyramid since Carlisle, sat on the seat with his tail wrapped round his feet and looked deeply insulted.

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Walter had bought the cats from a dock man in Hull who said they had been raised on a collier and would balance on anything that didn't wobble. The striped balls were painted by his sister in Leeds, who had loved stripes since she was a girl in Scarborough. They were hollow and lighter than they looked, and the cats disliked them only slightly less than they disliked rain. In the wet, the paint ran into the wood like barber's poles left out overnight.

At the green in Ellerby the crowd had already gathered under the chestnut tree, and the vicar's boy was keeping time with a tin whistle. Walter set the balls down in the damp grass and lifted Ambrose by the scruff. For a long minute the old tom stiffened and refused to be placed, until Dulcie leaned her head against his flank and purred so loudly the whistle boy forgot his tune. Ambrose climbed without another word and settled on top as if the whole scheme had been his idea.

They held the pose for the length of a hymn. When the rain finally eased, Walter saw the stripes on the balls had dried to a pale, clean grey, and the cats were still there, balanced on one another's trust, not one of them looking down.