Easy Company - Blog Posts

Burton “Pat” Paul Christenson

The resident artist of Easy Company, a small but important role.

The Real Christenson:

So there’s a few different sources saying when he was born. On official records in Ancestry, it says he was born July 23, 1922. In the book by Marcus Brotherton, he says August 24, 1922. I’d go with the official date recorded by not only his family but the government….but that’s just me.

Burton Paul Christenson was born in 1922 in Oakland, California. As a child he was never called Burton, he was called Pat (a self given nickname) or Chris.

He was talented, even as a kid. He played piano, sang, and drew throughout his life. He never took a professional art class, just a few college courses. As a teenager, he made airplane models out of wood. His friends recall Pat was a perfectionist about his airplanes and if one wasn’t exactly perfect, it was burned and flown.

With his creative side, he also had an adventurous side. At age 13, Pat jumped off his roof with an umbrella to see if it would slow his fall. Needless to say, he never did that again. He learned archery after watching Robin Hood and would read Robin Hood to his younger cousins.

He was fairly athletic, even using his talents to help him out in that area of his life. He made his own weights with lead and flower pots. He could walk on his hands, box, and loved push-ups.

Pat graduated from high school at Castlemont. Before the war, he worked in a telephone company. He enlisted at the age of 20, after visiting a recruiter during a lunch break. They saw the ad for the Paratroopers and were convinced it was the only way to go. He did not want to be the average man in the Army, he wanted to be the best of the best.

Pat was always up for a challenge and competition and proving his worth with Easy was his goal when he enlisted.

When he started training, he wrote that, at first, “the majority of men had little conception of Army life and what was expected of them.” Mostly, “too many men in our ranks were unsuited for the Parachute Infantry,”

Pat soon was the toughest man in Toccoa. He held the physical-fitness record in Toccoa, an accomplishment that Winters confirmed in a letter to his family. The scene where Pat drinks water while running Currahee, didn’t actually happen to him, it happened to another person but it was shown to be Christenson.

Pat kept a photo of his younger cousin Gary (the two were close throughout most of their life) tucked into his helmet during jump school. When he made his qualifying jump, he managed to get an extra pair of jump wings and sent them back to Gary. He told Gary he was now a qualified jumper and Gary became the envy of his school with his fancy jump wings.

When Easy was sent to Alderbourne, England, Pat was with them. They continued to train and Pat continued to write about his experiences, saying, “Our training revolved around how to fight every conceivable way, and often, large groups of men gathered at the local pub.”

Pat was assigned to teach unarmed combat to others due to fear of an enemy invasion. Winters picked three easy men, all of them were privates. To gain respect from their trainees, Winters told them to borrow sergeants uniforms for their teaching. They traveled to the other units and trained them in hand-to-hand combat for days. During this time his reputation as the toughest man of Easy only grew. He wrote: “After a period of time, a group came to me and exclaimed, ‘Sergeant, no one can get out of this guy’s hold. If this stuff works, show us how you’d get away from him.’ There, standing in the middle of the group, was a great big 300-pounder with a smile from ear to ear. I deliberately paused, directed a cold stare at him, then approached quickly and said, ‘Make your move.’ As soon as I felt his arms around me I immediately collapsed my legs and threw my arms over my head. I slipped out of his grasp and found the back of his neck with my hands. His body was now bent over my back. I jerked hard on the back of his neck. His body, off balance, came flying over my shoulder and struck the ground with a violent thud. Swiftly, I drove my knee into his neck. I had never executed that move as well before or since. The crowd roared with approval. Then and there, to that group, I was untouchable.”

Pat was in the same plane as Richard Winters on their jump into Normandy. Like most of them, Pat had a rough ride down. Pat was a machine gunner at the time and lost the tripod for the gun during the jump, along with most of his other supplies. He also spotted a German firing an antiaircraft gun as he landed, but the German did not spot him (he was firing at another paratrooper) and Pat lived to tell the tale after safely landing in an apple tree.

When he went for cover, he landed on a dead American soldier. The dead man made a noise as air escaped his lungs and terrified poor Pat. What a helluva way to start the war?

Pat stayed in cover for a while, sensing movement, he gave the signal with the cricket. (Because why would you say flash when you’re surrounded by Germans and they might actually shoot you if they don’t know that language) When no response came, Pat raised to shoot the figure in front of him. The shadowy figure yelled out, “For Christ-sake, don’t shoot.” It was a boy named Woodrow Runner, Pat’s assistant gunner. He had lost part of his cricket and couldn’t send the signal.

Pat spent the rest of his Normandy campaign as a grenadier. He described it as one small skirmish after the other.

Pat made the jump into Holland on September 17, 1944. Pat considered this jump to be like a “parade ground jump”. By this time, Pat had become a squad leader and replacements were making their first jump.  Easy liberated the town of Eindhoven and made their way to Nuenen. Pat  wrote extensively about the skirmish in Nuenen. 

When two Germans fired at Pat from their location in a second story window, Pat raised his Thompson at them and fired. The gun did not fire, but the Germans were still firing at him. Pat realized that his gun had been put together wrong and he was exposed in an open field. Pat managed to fix his gun, out in the open, and get it placed back together properly. The Germans did not decide to stick around for the gun to work and ran. 

Pat recalls an event that happened shortly after, “The last house had an open field next to it. I parted the foliage of the hedge that separated the field from the house. I must have been spotted by a German machine gunner. Before he could fire, I pushed through the hedge and dropped into a ditch just on the other side. Robert Van Klinken, one of my riflemen, was following me closely. [Van Klinken] peered through the same opening as I had, just as the German machine gunner depressed the trigger. Van Klinken was hit with three bullets.”

Pat managed to grab Van Klinken, who was hit in the groin and chest, and dragged him into the ditch. Then men in the ditch were under heavy fire from the Germans. Pat waited until orders from Peacock, who was not sure what to do. They eventually called a withdrawal and manged to escape under fire. ““‘Chris, I’m not sure what to do,’ [Peacock said.] “‘Let’s withdraw—now!’ I said. He hesitated. ‘Who’s going to start the withdrawal?’ (The Germans were firing a machine gun in the path of our only escape route.)I said to the men around me to move to the rear in two’s and keep spread out. The men began to move. All got clear of the house. Peacock dashed across the danger area and I was close behind him. We ran as fast as we could for several hundred yards when we finally ran into the rest of E Company. We mounted the rest of the British tanks and rode back to Eindhoven.” 

Pat lost his friends Van Klinken and Bill Dukeman during the fight at Nuenen. 

Like every member of Easy, Bastogne held no good memories for Pat. On December 18, 1944, Easy left France (where they were having a slight break beforehand) and traveled to Bastogne, Belgium. Easy arrived on the 19th, dug their foxholes, and prepared for the worst. 

Snow began to fall on December 21 and the temperatures only got worse as the days carried on. Pat only writes once more about Bastogne, on December 23, 1944: “The blackness of the early morning surrendered to the new dawn. It was cold and quiet, and snow had fallen intermittently [throughout] the night. The flicker of a small fire could be seen in the rear toward the first platoon CP [command post]. [The fire] was well under control, for there was no tell-tale smoke that a German artillery observer could see. [If there had been smoke,] that area would have been shelled or mortared immediately. The early morning hours passed with only the sound of sporadic small arms fire to our left flank and occasional mortar fire a great distance away.”

 While Pat did not write about Bastogne, he drew about Bastogne.  One drawing shows a man’s leg exploding, being hit from mortar fire. Toye and Guarnere both lost their legs to mortar fire in January and Pat drew the picture in their honor. Other drawings include a jeep being hit by a mortar blast, patrols, tank battles, mortar fire, and hiking toward town. 

Below is a drawing by Pat (credit to Marcus Brotherton): 

Pat was injured a few times at Bastogne. Pat was injured as he was in his foxhole, his arm outside the hole. He heard the shrapnel coming, but was too sleep deprived to bother to move his arm. He was hit in the arm. Afterwards, he didn’t put in for a Purple Heart because ‘Van Klinken and Dukeman were killed, it was nothing’. When Bastogne was coming to a close, his feet froze and he was evacuated and sent to the hospital. When he arrived to the hospital, Pat wanted to take a bath but was told not to because of his frozen feet. Pat didn’t want to get into the hospital bed while he was still dirty, so he took one anyways.

Pat returned to Easy before they took Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest and finished the war off with Easy. 

Pat returned home in the fall of 1945, now a Tech Sergeant by the war’s end. His first night home, he talked about war, mostly focused on being glad it was over. Gary, his cousin, remembered that first night and told about how Pat had been affected by the war, “ Funny thing was, he looked up at the ceiling inside his parents’ house and said, “Wonder if a mortar could go through this.” Pat wanted to get on with life, same as the rest of the guys. A few evenings later, the family held a big dinner celebration.” 

Pat went back to work soon after getting home, back to the telephone company he’d been with before the war began. He was not happy at that job, wanting to instead be an artist or horticulturalist. Pat was also big into physical fitness and eventually started a side job where he opened one of the first public gymnasiums in Oakland, California. Pat got a third job in landscaping and worked on that from 1967 to 1987. 

Pat married Mary Jo Bonham in 1947. They had three children, all sons, and moved into a large house near Oakland. The house had a large yard, which Pat decorated with a Japanese garden and a deck. Pat loved it so much, he slept outside during the summer.

Like most of Easy, the war followed Pat home. His son, Chris, said in an interview, “My father was probably like many of the fellows who came back. He was haunted by a lot of his war experiences. My room was adjacent to the back yard. I’d have the window open and remember hearing him in the night, many times. He had put stone pathways in the backyard, and I’d hear him walking on the pathways at two or three o’clock in morning. Afraid, I’d go to my mother. ‘Your father’s having funny feelings,’ she said. That was how she put it.”

Mary Jo passed away in 1997, three months after being diagnosed with liver cancer. She was 69 at the time. While her sudden death took many for surprise, it destroyed Pat. He stopped writing and no longer cared about life. There was no purpose left for Pat and grief consumed him.Pat’s own health began to falter. He had an small stroke and was left a changed man. Pat became slow, unresponsive, and he spiraled downwards from there. He was put into a hospital near one of his sons, Paul Jr. 

During his time in the hospital, Pat was still tough as he was during the war. He even got to the point of needing to be restrained so he could not punch the staff. But his brain was still “rewired” and he was losing track of the day. He was put into an  Alzheimer’s facility after a short time in the hospital. His brain would sometimes revert back to his days with Easy. One event that came to his son’s mind was when his dad said: “’Well, [Sergeant Don] Malarkey’s sitting over there. I just told him he had outpost duty.’ I’d say, ‘That’s not Malarkey.’ He’d say emphatically, ‘Of course it is.’”

Then, magically, his brain just rewired itself again. One day, he told his son he was fine and he needed to go home. And it turned out, he was perfectly fine. He was even able to take his driver’s test again and passed it. Then Pat was diagnosed with colon cancer. He had it removed and was just fine afterwards. But even Pat had his limits. 

Pat fell in his backyard, broke his arm and messed up his leg. His son Tim paid for him to have a caregiver live with him from there on. Pat was diagnosed with lung cancer, most likely due to his smoking habits that started with the war. Pat was offered surgery to remove the cancer, but refused after hearing he might end up on a ventilator. ““I don’t want to go out like that,” Pat said. “Let the cards fall where they may.”

Pat fell into a coma after a high fever. He died on  December 15, 1999. Pat passed away in his home, with his three sons by his side. 

When Guarnere told Winters that Pat had passed away, Winters wrote to the family: ““I always took pride in having my best looking man out front carrying the guidon [a small flag carried for marking, signaling or identification] for reviews by dignitaries. And that man, or course, was always Pat, who, with his clean-cut good looks and wide shoulders, proudly carried the Company E guidon.“When it came time for the big jump in Normandy, I wanted my best, most dependable man right behind me, that man was Pat again.””

@geniedocroe

@bandofbrothersworld

Rules: Describe yourself with 10 pictures you already have. No downloading or searching for new ones.

Thank you

Tagging: @baberoeeee @sunnyshifty @geniedocroe

Rules: Describe yourself with 10 pictures you already have. No downloading or searching for new ones.

Thank you so much for tagging me @dearscone and @sohoneyspreadyourwings 💕

*I have plenty more photos to describe me*

I'm gonna tag: @queen-irl-af, @brianmay-be, @alienoresimagines, @melancholiaprincess, and anyone else who would like to play and just say I tagged you 💚💚

Since we are all quarantined in my state there is nothing to do. Please tell which band of brothers boy I should draw to cure my boredom. I will post each drawing.

Johnny Martin: Im never happy

Johnny Martin: Just less pissed off

David Kenyon Webster, everybody

Babysitter Speirs: *hiding in the bathroom with a glass of wine*

Easy Company: *screaming and destroying the house*

Speirs, to the camera: Lipton is out of town, and I desperately needed a drink to get through the rest of the night. So I’m hiding in the bathroom, having a drink. Is that wrong?

Probably Luz: *breaking something expensive upstairs*

Speirs: They don’t ever go away. They want everything you have.

Speirs: *points camera under the door*

Shifty: *on the ground, staring through the crack curiously*

Speirs: See? He follows me everywhere.

Shifty: Hi.

Shifty: Hi.

Speirs: Hi.

Imagine the Easy boys finding a frickin' flame thrower.

Lipton: We are not taking the flame thrower-

Speirs: *grabs the flame thrower and uses it in mid air* BURN BABY BURN

Easy Company: *hides behind Lipton*

Lieb: Web is a bit sore from last night.

Chuck: Oh?

Lieb: He and I were fighting over the last piece of chocolate. I got a bit intense.

im sorry but my boy chuck here

has the same energy as

Webster: Is Joe here?

Grant: You know what?

[Joe jumping out the window in the background]

Grant: He just left.

Webster: [Smiles]

Liebgott, slams hands on table: That’s it, I’m killing him!

Grant: Or you could man up and finally ask him out.

Liebgott: Killing him is easier.

Eion Bailey’s Jawline.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Winters yelling, “SPEIRS! Get yourself over here!” and Speirs just bounding up like an excited, murderous puppy.

Speirs: [stomping back from enemy lines]

Smol baby replacements, in awe: Daddy?

Speirs, eyes narrowing: DO I LOOK LIKE—

Very random headcanons about the easy boys:

Babe was down with the flu and spend three days not leaving his bed and watching conspiracy theories on netflix

The very next time he went back to work and saw Speirs, he was damn sure his captain was replaced by a reptile and Speirs is actually an enormous lizard hiding under human skin;

Bill knows one direction songs better than some of the 1d fans;

Hoobler always thinks that those little sparks in the sky at night are not planes but ufos;

Smokey blocked him on the phone because he got tired of Hoobler sending him real pixelated dots of the night sky with GORDON THEY ARE REAL SHIT FUCK WE GONNA DIE messages;

Guys have “no questions asked” use of one time for each other;

Meaning that if one of them calls the other and asks to do something and ads “no questions asked”, the latter will not ask, tell, question or deny anything he is asked to do;

Examples of this involved Lip going to a real shady place at 4am in the morning to give some money to nix who was buying a baby goat from Russian mafia;

Roe trying to remove Cob’s dick from a plant pot;

Speirs playing along with acting that Harry is the prince of Wales just so that Harry would get a free desert and some restaurant in a small village in Madagascar;

 Nix trading naked, tied to a bed Speirs for three big macs from a 70-year-old hooker;

Luz distracting Sobel by kissing him because Lieb was planting a prank in Sobel’s room and almost got caught by Sobel returning early;T

he last incident cause a whole bunch of mess as

·         A) Sobel was conflicted with either punishing Luz for his behavior and also not wanting to look homophobic because of punishing man for his preferred kiss-buddies;

·         B) Toye thinking that Luz is actually attracted to Sobel and being both disgusted by this and incredibly depressed as he was in the stage of doodling little hearts around Luz’s name in his notebook;

·         C) Sink asking Dick to give an inappropriate behavior lecture to Easy:

·         D) Dick giving the lecture and mentioning that it is also inappropriate to slap someone’s ass or comment on the physical body of other soldier;

·         E) Easy making the game out of this and objectifying the most ridiculous parts of each other’s body

·         “DAMN TAB YOUR CLAVICULA MAKES MY NORTHEN REGION ENLARGE”

·         “Captain Nixon, your Adam’s apple looks especially fine today”

 Penkala once saw Dick and Nix slowly dancing to Elton John’s version of “Chapel of love”

He recorded everything and never showed or mentioned this to anyone;

 A year later, at Nix’s and Dick’s wedding afterparty, he showed the video to everyone;

Even Speirs got tear-eyed;

You know how in friends chandler accidently saw Rachel naked, so she wanted took revenge on him but then saw joe naked and so on and so on?

Yes well Don accidentally walked on Ron naked in his office (he was just after the shower) and of course Nix said that the best way to defuse the tension would be Ron seeing Don naked;

So after the trainings, Ron bee railed to Don’s room in hopes to see him naked;

What he didn’t know was that Muck’s shower wasn’t working so Much showered at Don’s place and yes, Ron dragged shower curtain trying to peak at Don but al he saw was naked Muck performing “my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard” and the screeching like a little girl;

So this send a barrel rolling down the hill and the very highlight of this situation was;

Our poor, innocent Skinny Sisk seeing an old and wrinkled ass of our most respected Colonel Sink

So waaaay before Toye and Luz were a thing, Toye experienced quite common symptoms of having a crush

Except that he never had those and actually though that there was something wrong with him

 And he went to Gene and described them

Mind you, Gene was in, like, his third year of med school

So Toye goes “I dunno, doc its like, once a day maybe twice, I get these intense heartbeats, my pulse just goes insane, I get hot flashes, my head starts spinning a bit, and it never happened before”

“so how long has this been going on?”

“maybe like 2months. How long does Luz live with me and Bill? That’s how long.”

 And Gene just looks at his chart, looks at Toye, looks at his medical books and goes:

“I think you are experiencing a menopause”

Buck is a serious carnivore and once Luz dared him to eat a broccoli and Buck still says it was the most horrifying experience in his life. And this guy was in war

Martin and Bull take a spa day once in month because their nerves need a break from easy’s shenanigans once in a while

im here for hc that ron and nix has the thightest friendship and would kill/die for each other EXCEPT that neither of them are willing to admit it

And they have like million inside jokes, ron is actually named ‘bae❤️’ on nix’s phone, but every time someone says “so are you two besties?” they act like someone just brought dishonour on them, on their family and on their cow

i feel like there is a rule that Speirs cannot be left alone with Penkala and Skinny, because the latter too are marely children and they worship the ground Speirs walks on so it is incredible easy for him to talk them into doing something stupid

like i feel once Alex had to go the hospital because speirs was like “if you hit on something hard constantly, your bones will become stronger and you will suffer minimal injuries” and Alex straight up jumped out of the third floor window to test this

Krauts: GET YO DOG

Winters, deadfaced: it don't bite

Speirs: *is shooting Krauts left and right*

Krauts: YES IT DO

You're the Bill Guarnere to my Babe Heffron :)

I'm not crying or anything, there's just something in my eye 😭😭😭❤❤❤. I love this and you so much!!

^^ I mean who wouldn't wanna be as good of friends as these men were?? (TV portrayals in the 1st and real life men in the 2nd)

Webster: *sees two bees flying around a garden*

Webster: i wonder.,. if....they’re friends..

Nixon: The odds of that happening coincidentally are vanishingly small.

Webster: I would say infinitesimally.

Liebgott: Yes, and I would say teenily-weenily. We all know words.

Happy Birthday Darrell (Shifty) Powers

March 13, 1923 - June 17, 2009

Happy Birthday Shifty 🦌

Luz: I’m gonna need a human skull and I can't have you ask any questions why.

Speirs: only if you also don't ask why

Speirs: *pulls out 7 pristine human skulls* take your pick.

Luz:

Speirs:

Luz: this one is fine

okay so Modern AU where Gene is the one who always takes care of the guys but one day he falls ill and well,,,,

Dick notices first because he's always keeping an eye on everyone and Gene's been acting kinda off lately

he wants to check on him but Gene doesn't let him because he knows he's getting sick but he can handle it

he cannot handle it

he gets a bad fever and Dick forces him to stay in bed

meanwhile the news spread and it's actual chaos

everyone wants to do something to help but those idiots just end up making a big mess

at least they're trying

Lip brings blankets. a lot. a lot of blankets.

Babe brings chocolate. Every kind he can find in the store.

he literally comes back with two bags full of chocolate because he didn't know which one was Gene's favorite flavor. so he just buys them all.

Muck, Malarkey and Penkala are the kind od friends that come visit you when you're sick to update you on every stupid little thing that has happened while you were not there

Babe comes back the next day with a bunch of flowers

The smell is too strong and like Gene keeps sneezing but he refuses to let anyone take the flowers away

Web brings books to read

Speirs comes back from the pharmacy with 10 packs of the pills gene had asked him to buy

when Gene asks why he just shrugs and goes like "for good measure"

Nix offers him a drink because "a drink a day keeps the doctor away"

Dick tells him off but he actually manages to make Gene laugh

Luz cracks jokes all the time, he sits down next to Gene to keep him company and starts telling the weirdest stories

all of sudden the guys start to gather around to listen and laugh all together

Dick knocks on the door every hour or so to check on Gene and to make sure the kids™ are not being too loud or annoying

Gene actually loves it

He loves them all

im soft now bye

Easy company as cats

Dick -  Big ginger tomcat who always finds the best hiding spots to catch birds, well-mannered and rarely ever meows. Spends most of the day outside or curled up pressed to his owner, never bothering anyone though. Has a neat collar with a classic little nametag. You can trust him not to make any trouble if you forget to let him out into the garden when you leave for work in the morning. He likes water and sometimes stays outside in the rain chasing raindrops. Is best friends with the neighbour’s black persian.

Nix - Said black persian. His owners keep him in absolute luxury, feeding him tuna every day and brushing out the knots in his fur, but he runs out through his little cat door each afternoon and gets it messy again. Taught Dick how to use that cat door and now they trot in and out of the house as they please. Nix drinks milk at both of their places and scoffs at water. Generally lazy, but doesn’t protest against stroking or cuddling.

Speirs - Cat of unknown origin, possibly stray, always sitting on the fence or on the porch staring inside all creepily without blinking. Has beautiful black and white markings, a real magpie cat. Presents various carcasses to Lipton and sometimes live prey to play with. Once in a while, he lets Lipton groom his head and ears, but no human you know of has been able to catch him. Leaves half a rabbit on your doormat at night so that you can step on it in the morning.

Lipton - Is a huge cat with sandy-dark brown fur that stands every which way in tufts. Got bitten at the hip by a dog and almost died, but his owners didn’t give up on him and he healed with only a small scar as a reminder. He’s really nice and friendly, calm, lets children play with him and curls up on your chest to purr when you’re sick or depressed. Isn’t afraid of fireworks. Has disappeared for two days once and you found him in the shed with the bicolor stray, lethargic from an infection, but mostly warm in a box of work clothes the stray seemed to have claimed as his bed.

Luz - Long-haired siamese cat that keeps running around the house and meows for no damn reason. If you don’t pay attention to him, he tries meowing at different pitches. Seems to understand how conversations work, because he makes tiny “mrow” sounds when you talk to him. Likes to hide behind the bookshelf and wait until you pass by to attack-hug your leg with (mostly) soft paws, then runs off again. Gets crazy from laser pointers and can practically run up the wall chasing the little red dot. 

Toye - Battered stray that got adopted by Luz’s owners from the death row. One of his hind legs broke and healed wrong before he was caught, so he has a limp. He’s unfriendly and doesn’t like to be touched, keeps growling if you pick him up, and he has real sharp claws that no one dared trim yet. He’s a little on the thin side right now, but his new owners are trying to cure him back to health. In the evening, he likes to curl up with Luz in a nest they share. Doesn’t play.

Babe - Ragdoll kitten, isn’t mature yet. Purrs at the slightest touch. True to his breed, goes boneless and soft if you pick him up, and everyone wants to cuddle with him. Once, he got stung by an insect and his right paw swelled to twice its original size. Considers rolling onto his back and batting at your fingers as the most enjoyable playtime. He likes to go up to adult cats and jump on them or eat their food, but they don’t tend to hiss at him for some reason. Strictly indoor cat.

Roe - Slender chartreux cat who likes to groom your hair with his cute pink tongue. Lives with Babe and carries him by his scruff like a momma even though he’s a male cat. Been lost a few times before, so he became an indoor cat too, because his owners prefer to keep him safe. When it’s cold, he tucks his paws under his body and sleeps like a loaf of bread. Eats chocolate whenever he can, fishing out the wrappers from the trashbin when he’s naughty.

Webster - Mostly indoor cat, a white angora with blue eyes. Came from the best breeder in town, is a frequent contestant on cat shows. He even learnt a few tricks from his owner. He’s very docile and practically offers himself when it’s time for his evening brush or a regular nail trim. He can walk on a leash without trouble and wears knit socks without fuss. Stays still when his owner wants pictures. Has a sensitive stomach and pukes on the carpet if he doesn’t get good food, is allowed to sit on the kitchen counter.

Liebgott - Scrawny tabby streetcat that hangs out in Webster’s territory and sprays on the bushes. He and Webster get into noisy fights every week, sometimes through the glass of a window or the screen door. Webster’s owners are upset about it, fearing that Lieb is going to scratch Web’s beautiful face up, but once, they accidentally let Web out on his own and find him and Lieb pressing their noses together curiously. Lieb can be coaxed into a short petting, but he bites when he gets bored of it. Made the neighbour’s Rottweiler howl once by clawing at its nose.

Guarnere - “Tomcat of the block”. Goes out on his daily prowl at night and chases after the female cats, dropping litters around the neighbourhood for the lucky owners to take care of. He’s striped like a tiger and has an M on his forehead. He’s small but can be ferocious when it comes to what he thinks is his. He kept puffing up when he saw Dick a few houses down the street, but he entered Dick’s territory once, got smacked in the nose, and now he’s okay with simply keeping his respectful distance. Is on a special diet because of a urinary infection.

Shifty - An adorable Scottish fold. He’s a talented bird hunter and can jump surprisingly high. Was hit by a car once just when he finally got home from a vet visit, but got away with a few broken bones. He has such sad eyes that it’s a challenge not to pick him up all the time. If you take him into your arms, he headbutts your neck affectionately. Seems to stare at and watch invisible things sometimes, staying motionless in hunting position for minutes. He sleeps with his owner at night.

Malarkey - Used to be a fearful kitten, walking around staying low and close to the ground, but he doesn’t much mind noise now. Gets confused at times when things change, for example, it takes days for him to tuck in without hesitation when you buy him a new brand of food. Has his own basket next to his owner’s armchair and likes to hide there, sometimes sticking his head out and staring warily for a minute or two before settling back down. Sometimes, he wanders into the garage and gets oil stains on his ash-colored fur, so his owner has to bathe him regularly.

Talbert - He’s a gorgeous bengal cat with big green eyes. Very agile and smart, likes to play with pieces of yarn and loves climbing trees. Always greets his owner at the end of a workday by running up to the car with his tail in the air. His favourite sleeping place is under the rosebushes. Likes to lurk around in the dark at night, but sometimes that gets him into trouble, like that time when he broke a vase and got a piece of it wedged in his paw. Dick’s other neighbour, they like to sunbathe together.

Now, who’s who in the pictures below? And which kitten would you take home with you?