Radar ended up as liver-mincer and would have kept going until he made mush if they hadn't stopped him.
Hawkeye folded a couple of pieces of paper into a dish and placed a bit of liver in it, and placed the dish in front of the cat.
It took her a minute to get to her feet, finally succeeding after Radar offered her a helping hand. She struggled to get her land legs but once she did she sniffed at the meat and then began to take dainty little bites with her front teeth.
The three of them couldn't help but laugh at that; a scruffy-looking little thing with war wounds of her own, short legs and tiny ears, eating as if she were a queen.
When she finished she lay down and began to wash her face.
Radar filched a small dish and filled it with water for her, and the three of them smiled down at her, now dozing in her crate.
"What are you going to name her?" Hawkeye asked Radar.
"I was thinking that since you saved her life you could name her," Radar replied, clearly intending it to be an honor.
"I don't know, Radar. I'm not much of a namer, and she's your cat."
"No, I insist."
Hawkeye looked over at BJ, but all he would do was put his hands up in front of him in a don't look at me gesture.
"Okay."
***
Five days later, the now mobile and quite gregarious tortoiseshell was also still quite nameless. She had instituted herself into everyone's life that would have her, and they all found out quickly that if you were done petting her but she wasn't done being petted, you got whatever you didn't want bitten out of range fast.
Radar was still insisting Hawkeye name her, and BJ was waiting to see how long this would take. He was rather enjoying watching Hawkeye squirm.
"This is ridiculous!" Hawkeye told BJ one evening as the cat lay on his stomach, purring her breathy purr and kneading her small round paws in what he had to admit was a relaxing manner. "It should take five minutes to name one scruffy-looking cat! But nothing seems right."
"I don't know what to tell you."
"No, and even if you did you wouldn't because you're enjoying this."
BJ just looked at him. In a moment a big, wicked grin spread across his face. Hawkeye lobbed a dirty sock at him.
***
Day seven: Still no name. The amusement was wearing off for BJ. Radar seemed tired and slight incredulous, but was still adamant. If Hawkeye didn't name her, no one would.
Hawkeye opened his footlocker in search of the clean tee shirt he knew was in there. He moved a long-sleeved shirt and jumped back with a yelp.
A rat sat there, as large as his two loosely-clenched fists, with its teeth bared.
Hawkeye looked around wildly for something to bludgeon it with but all he saw was a black streak fly past him.
A shrieking, squeaking scream and the nameless cat sat there with a broken-necked rat hanging from her jaws.
"Amazon," Hawkeye breathed.
She protested a bit before she gave up her kill for him to take out and throw in the garbage dump. When he got back he found her lying on his cot worrying the bandage on her foot.
"Did you rip your stitches?" He asked her, scooping her up, sitting down and unwrapping her foot.
One stitch had ripped and a few drops of blood stained the dressing. He wiped her foot clean, applied a liberal coating of petroleum and rewrapped it. Then he held her up and looked in her green eyes.
"Amazon ratter." He said with a smile. Slowly his smile widened. "Your name is Amazon. Wild cat of Korea."
Radar and BJ were both pleased when he introduced her to them by name.
***
A couple of days later, Hawkeye got back to the Swamp and called for Amazon as he searched for her. Usually she was on either his or BJ's cot, in a cubbyhole on one of their shelves, or sitting proudly over her latest kill.
Today she was in none of those places.
Hawkeye went outside and looked around. Nobody he asked had seen anything, but finally he found a bloodstain on one of the stones surrounding the tent. The next person he asked mentioned seeing a dog running off with something it had caught in its mouth.
"Oh no."