"Mom, Mom, can I stay home from school tomorrow?" Beetle field mouse whined.

"And grow up to be like your father? Is that what you want, is it? Do you want that?" The mother had begun to prepare supper for her fourteen young ones. They were all weaned and were in that stage where they thought they were smart and could live on their own, but they could not. So Peggy field mouse had to feed her fourteen young offsprings every meal.

"Momma, Gritze hit me, Momma make Gritze stop," Zelda whined as Peggy field mouse tried to figure out how to divide the meager amount of food she had. Peggy field mouse walked over to Gritze and whomped him up side his head, and then she whacked Zelda.

Peggy's husband Randy mouse was laid up with a near broken leg which had resulted when he nearly got caught in a mousetrap....all because Randy had wanted some white cheese. Randy could and did eat more than all the rest of the family put together. Finally Peggy had the table set and she hoped it would suffice for that was all they had. "Children, Randy, supper is served," she yelled in her sweet melodic little mousy voice.

And then it started as it normally did, for Randy started from his bed to the table, and for the next half hour all anyone would hear was how much he hurt and how no one appreciated him. "Come help me, come help your poor wounded father," he would moan.

After supper Peggy cleaned up and slipped out of their nest in the foundation of the old barn. Peggy climbed up through the cinder blocks and then up to a hole in the eaves where she would go to watch the sun-set and just to relax, to be by herself. For let's face it, with 14 young ones a mother mouse did not have much time to herself.

"Hi Peggy, how was your day?" Wily Owl asked as Peggy reached her viewing point, which was just a little way from Wily Owl's perch.

"Oh Mr. Wily Owl, trying to feed 14 children with a husband who is laid up is about as much as one can put up with." Peggy field mouse smiled, turned to Wily Owl, and said, "And How as your day Mister Wily Owl?" Did you get enough sleep, and did you solve the dilemma you were working on yesterday?"

Wily smiled. "Why Peggy, I solved it and all parties concerned were quite happy with my solution. Even White-tail fox and Brer Marmot seemed pleased with my solution." (Now it may seem funny to you that an Owl is chatting with a field mouse, when owls usually feed on field mice. But Wily Owl and Peggy field mouse had a better relation than that).

The first year Peggy became a woman, Wily Owl, who had been stalking Peggy and her young ones, got caught in a trap. Two boys had taken some grain and placed it in a little opening on a board in the barn and had set a snare so that when Wily walked on the board, the snare would snap and catch the unsuspecting creature, Wily in this case.

Wily had seen Peggy and three of her offspring nibbling at the grain and he had swooped down to get them, and as he grasped Peggy in his talons, the snare had been tripped and Wily had been jerked up and hung upside down by his two legs, which caught in the twine of the snare. As he was jerked up, his talons opened and Peggy fell free.

Peggy looked up in horror as she realized how close she had come to being the owl's dinner. She shuddered and quickly directed her young ones to the safety of their nest down in the foundation of the old barn. Oh yes, whomever built the barn had used cinderblocks for the foundation and had put the blocks in as a wall and left them hollow. Then they had put a two by four along the top of the cinderblocks and built the building leaving all of that open space in the cinderblocks empty, and dry.

A little while later Peggy, being hungry, had gone back up to where the grain was and she had heard Owl calling for help, "Help me, please help me, for I am in a snare."

Peggy heard the mournful plea and went up to where Owl was hanging. "Are you going to eat me, Mister Wily Owl?" she asked in her smooth squeaky voice.

"Not if you can help me, not at all," Wily replied.

Peggy ran up along the rafters to where the rope was hooked and checked it out. "Mister Owl, I can free you," she said.

"Oh would you, please would you?" Owl replied

"Yes Mister Owl I will on one condition?" she said in a firm and straightforward manner.

"And what is that rat," Owl replied.

"I am not a rat, I am Peggy Field Mouse," She said defiantly.

"Excuse me Peggy field mouse, I did not know," he replied. "And what is your condition?"

"That you will never try to eat me or any of my family as long as we are in this barn." She looked directly at Owl who hung upside down. "And that we be friends, talking and just being friends in this barn."

Owl shook his head, "Peggy field mouse you drive a hard bargain, but yes we shall be friends and I will agree to your wishes." So with those words Peggy crawled down the twine and started to gnaw.

"Mister Owl, when the twine breaks you are going to fall, so be ready." Peggy quickly gnawed the twine and Owl fell free. He opened his wings and flew back to his perch.

Peggy jumped to the rafter nearby and after Owl had regained his composure, they sat and chatted for a couple hours, or until it got dark and it was time for Owl to go find his supper.

So that was how their friendly relationship had begun.

"Mr. Wily Owl, look at that sunset, is it not one of the most beautiful ones you have seen?" Peggy asked as she sat goggled eyed and watched the sun sinking in the west and the clouds take on colors, the most beautiful colors.

"Yes Peggy field mouse it is, but over beyond the pines you see the view is even more beautiful."

"More beautiful than this? Really? It could be more beautiful than this?" Peggy just could not believe any sunset could be prettier or more beautiful than from right here in the barn.

Then the small field mouse looked at the big old owl and a somewhat sedate smile came to her face and she said, "But Mister Wily Owl, you can fly, you live up here, and you can sit in trees while looking and taking in the wonders of this world." Then her face became somber, "Whereas I on the other hand, live in the foundation of a barn, and my travel is just outside and around this barn, and that my friend is done on the ground."

Owl she could tell was soaking in her words. "So you see coming up here and seeing the sun setting way, way away is a thrill for me."

Wily Owl, not to be outdone listened to the teeny Peggy field mouse and then spoke, "Yes my friend, I have seen the wonders of this village and the forests or copses therein. But no my friend, I too have not traveled very far."

Then the Owl thought and a big smile came to his face. Now when was the last time you ever saw a bar owl smiling?

"But our worlds are quite different, me being small and my world is just around here, and I look to you as the much traveled one." And Owl could tell this little creature was thinking. And Peggy added, "Yes Mister Wily Owl, to you your sphere of travel and knowledge is small when compared to others but so large when compared to mine."

Owl looked at the little mouse and then Ergo, a thought came to him, "Peggy one day, I will carry you in my talons and we will go to the pine woods and watch the sunset from there, that is if you would trust me."

"Oh Mr. Wily Owl, that would be the bestest thing there could ever be, and I would be beholding to you for ever."

"Peggy field mouse, next week is the full moon, and if the weather is conducive, we can next week. And Peggy's eyes lit up and her pulse raced. "Oh yes I should love to do that, yes Mr. Owl."