Grandma Sadie and the Naming of Kittens

When I was in the 6th grade, our outdoor cat, Sassy, had kittens. It took Sassy a little while to decide where she wanted to raise her kittens, but she eventually settled on our Visla’s kennel, back in the dog house.
Sadie, the Visla, was one of the most laid back dogs ever, and she was perfectly happy to share her space with the cats. In fact, Sassy would leave the kittens in Grandma Sadie’s care while she went hunting. When it was warm out, Sadie would lie outside her doghouse in the sun while the kittens explored their world.
The kittens’ favorite thing to explore was Sadie, and what was on the other side of her, and how to get there. But each had a very different plan. One day while watching them, my brother and I came up with their names.
First, the little girl kitten, almost pure black except for a mask of calico around her eyes. She was all about circumnavigating the dog. She would walk around Sadie in complete circles, first going one direction and then the other, as if trying to determine that one way was shorter than the other. We named her Christine Columbus, CC for short.
Then there was the little orange tabby. He would scramble on top of one the bales of straw that insulated the back part of the kennel. He would walk back and forth along it, paying close attention to the distance from him to the other side of Sadie. When he was satisfied, he would launch himself, flying through the air, to land (not always successfully) on the far side of the dog. We named him Orville.
Finally, there was the gray tabby. He was a serious and thoughtful little kitten, who would study what his brother and sister were doing intently. He sat and watched CC go in circles, Orville climb up the straw only to launch himself at the ground. Finally, he decided the shortest distance between point A and point B was the direct route, and right over Sadie he climbed. We called him Einstein.
Grandma Sadie slept through most of this, lying there enjoying the sun. She seemed to never notice the kitten constantly running under her nose, the one scrambling its way over her, or even the one who occassionally landed, not so gracefully on her side. Kittens, it seemed, could do whatever kittens wanted.