Two colour tattoos of cartoon characters side by side on an arm, a blue bird-like figure on the left and an orange raccoon-like figure on the right.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Two cartoon characters on an arm

Upper arm · Colour · Photo

Two colour tattoos of cartoon characters sit side by side on the skin. The blue bird-like figure on the left has bold outlines, flat shading and a wide grin, with striped detailing on its sleeves. The orange raccoon-like figure on the right has similar outlines, lighter flat fills and a ringed tail, and the two designs are placed close together.

Upper arm Cartoon character Bird Pair

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The Halloway Brothers Circus had shrunk to two acts by the October we wintered on the Medway marshes, and one of those acts was me pretending to be a juggler while Lenny Crane did everything else. Lenny was the blue one, all elbows and beak, and he could never stand still on the high wire without heckling the crowd. He would hang by one knee and tell the front row their coats were ugly, and they paid double for the privilege.

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Tam was my partner in the ring, a ringtail with sticky fingers and a face like a bailiff's ledger. Every night he lifted something off the ringmaster, a cufflink, a pocket watch, once the bolt from the lion cage, and every morning he returned it with a bow and a stolen penny taped to the back. "We're not thieves," he told me, "we're rebalancing the books." I believed him for about three seasons.

The last night came in November, with the canvas sagging under rain and only nine people in the seats. The ringmaster announced our final turn as if it were the moon landing. Lenny went up the rope, Tam went up after him, and for once neither of them looked at the audience. They just hung there, one blue and one striped, swinging towards each other like a question nobody was going to answer.

When the lights went down, Lenny folded the pole, Tam pocketed the ringmaster's keys, and we walked the wagon to a lay-by with the engine off. Behind us the big top let out a long sigh and sank into the mud. Tam said it was the best audience we ever had. Lenny said nine was a crowd if you counted the dog. I still have the penny.