Peggy field mouse had just finished feeding her offsprings and was meticulously combing and brushing her small face and head. Then she put on her blue gingham bonnet and the matching apron. Ooh she was excited for this was the day that Mr. Wily Owl was going to take her to watch a sunset. She and Mr. Wily Owl had met long ago and had become friends, and they would talk when Peggy would go up in the rafters of the barn and look out through a small hole under the eaves.

The last time she was up there Mr. Wily Owl said he would take her to a good viewing spot to watch the sunset. He would hold her in his talons and fly to a good vantage spot. And Peggy had never been beyond the barnyard, heck she had never been in the house next to the barn.

Finally feeling she was ready she told her husband, Randy field mouse, "Take care and make sure that Elizabeth stays covered up, so she will sweat out that cold." Elizabeth had gone up into the barn and fallen into a buck of water, well ice water the man had setting there and she had gotten chilled to the bone.

"I cannot believe it, that you will or would trust an owl, a mouse eating owl." Then he shrugged and as usual said, "Have fun Peggy, and be careful."

Peggy gave Randy a little buss and headed up through the cinderblocks and then up into the rafters for it was nearly time as the shadows had grown long. This time of the year, daylight comes late and the long shadows and darkness come early. As she reached the open room and rafters she saw Mr. Wily Owl sitting there nodding, well he looked to be nodding but she had found that Mr. Wily Owl was usually very much awake and knew what was going on.

"Whew, oh my goodness Mr. Wily Owl those children, some time, I just don't know." Then she awaited his words, for things had to be proper and in a certain order for Mr. Wily Owl. He was just the wise and proper type.

"Hi there Peggy field mouse, you about ready, another five minutes and the sky will begin to change." Then he hesitated and again spoke. "What I will do is to, . . . . Oh my what a pretty bonnet and apron, are they new? Uhh. . . what I will do is to lightly grasp you by the back and then hold you with one foot when I start to take off and to land."

"Fine Mr. Wily Owl, just fine," Peggy said, as she was as fidgety as a kid having to stand up in Sunday school and say a bible verse.

"What we will do is to fly up to that new cell phone tower, for that will give us a complete and unobstructed view. It is the highest thing around." Then he slowly walked over toward the hole, which he used for entering and leaving the barn. Mr. Wily Owl's own means of entry and egress and Peggy field mouse's means of viewing the world.

Peggy field mouse walked over to where Mr. Wily Owl was standing; she stopped, then Mr. Wily Owl very carefully and slowly lifted his right talon, opened it wide and slowly grasped her back. Not tight and not loosely, but just enough to hold her. Then holding Peggy he lurched through the hole and they were flying. Oh what a feeling, Peggy had as she looked down and could see the barnyard, the house and the yard surrounding it. Then she looked ahead and wow, she could see forever.

"How is the view Peggy field mouse," Mr. Wily Owl asked as he flapped his strong wings and lifted them up and up. Up and higher they went and Peggy could see further and further.

"Mr. Wily Owl," Peggy yelled, for the wind was blowing but she could hear everything all around.

"Yes, my little friend," Mr. Wily Owl replied, "Oh look to the South and you can see the whole city."

"Mr. Wily Owl, why does the world stop there to the West, everything just goes and goes an then it stops, is that the end of the earth Mr. Wily Owl?" Mr. Wily Owl smiled for he had never heard of the horizon being called the end of the earth. But then how would someone who had never seen anything except things close to them know? How would or could they understand the curvature of the earth and how you can only see so far because the earth is a sphere; well not really a perfect sphere but and oblate spheroid, with the North and South poles squashed and the equator fatter.

"Peggy my friend the earth is round and what you think is the end of the earth is actually the horizon." Then the owl reached his destination and then very carefully sat down on top of the cell phone antenna tower.

"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness," Peggy field mouse cried as she looked down from the 150 foot tall antenna mask, which was located on top of the hill over on Snob Nob. "Look, oh look, we are so high and oh my look at the houses and roads and trees and . . . . . ." She was ecstatic. Just place yourself in her stead and close your eyes and try to see or imagine what you could see if it were you.

Mr. Wily Owl grinned and savored the child like actions of this little rodent friend of his. "Peggy, Peggy, look back to the East, look back to that big green topped building." He turned Peggy , "See the two tall pine trees, just to the left, the light tan building, that is the barn, that is your home."

"Oh my, oh my, it seems so far away and so small, yet to me when I am at home it is so large, so very large." Peggy field mouse was completely agog and more excited than when she fell into that bucket of paint when she was a young mouse.

"Now my little friend look to the West and then slowly turn and look all around, see there are some nice fluffy clouds to the North and South and to the West there are some thin stratus ones which will be pretty in a few moments."

Mr. Wily Owl still remembered when as a young owlet who had just learned to fly, the first time he was taken to the tall pine upon Snob Nob and he saw the world and his surroundings for the first time. His father, Mr. Sage Owl had spent hours telling Wily about the area and his world.

Slowly Peggy field mouse, who by now had become accustomed to her high perch, looked to the West where she saw the bright sun just above the horizon and between two long thin clouds. Then she slowly turned to the left, Southward and she could she the large billowy powder puff clouds, which had been so white and pretty and were now a light shade of pink; and above then all at once there was a line and then there was the most pretty blue sky. But oh those pink billowy clouds, oh were they pretty, so very pretty. And then she turned to the left some more and to the East there were not a lot of clouds but the ones there were an orangish red and some a purple or purplish blue; they were just unbelievable, so unbelievable. And down near the horizon the sky was such a pretty blue, a blue that nearly matched the blue in her blue gingham bonnet and apron. My, my what a sight, what a grand sight Peggy field mouse did see.

"Now look to the North my friend," Mr. Wily Owl said.

And Peggy field mouse slowly turned to the left and, "Oh my , oh my," she said as the Northern sky was covered with clouds, clouds all the way from the ground to the top of the sky and the edges of some clouds were pink, while others were orangish, and others a little red, but some parts of them were blue, and others darker blue and even purple. "OOOh my, ooh my, Mr. Wily Owl, did someone paint this, why is it so beautiful? Is it like this every day or is this a special day when it is so beautiful?" Peggy could not believe the beauty she was beholding.

"Now look to the West again," Mr. Wily Owl said, as if he were talking to a small child, well he was talking to a small mouse. And oh my was Mr. Wily Owl enjoying this, for his chest was puffed out and his smile was unbelievable for an owl, especially an crusty old owl like Mr. Wily Owl.

Peggy slowly turned left till she saw the Western sky which just a minute or so before had been just a golden sun , illuminating some long thin stratus clouds. But now, oh now the edge of the sun was on the horizon and everything was just a bright golden color, bright gold, so golden and the thin streaks of clouds, those thin streaks were like thin strands of gold, with little flecks of blue in them. Peggy was shaking and her heart was beating ninety-leben miles a minute as she just stood agog and watched the corona slowly slide down behind the end of the world.

And as the sun slid down behind the rest of the world, the sky's colors again changed, oh did they change, for the long thing golden strands were now pink, red and orange strands with little wisps of blue and purple.

And the clouds to the South they were all red, a real bright red with some purple and lots of beautiful blues. But oh my, oh my the clouds to the East were now just one big glob of red, red as if the whole sky was aflame, and the color was so , so well and evenly distributed, it was, nearly beyond words.

And little did Peggy field mouse know that Mr. Wily Owl was so taken aback by this unusual sunset, he took was well, not at a loss for words, but temporarily depleted of adequate adjectives and adverbs to describe what he or he and Peggy field mouse were seeing.

And about then a breeze began to blow and Mr. Wily Owl opened his wings and wrapped them about the small little field mouse, the one wearing a blue gingham bonnet with a matching apron. And he protected her from the wind as she just giggled, oooohed and aaaah'd at the sights she beheld, the sights of nature, which she had never seen before and most likely would never see again.

And then as they both faced the West they saw the coup d'etat for the colors were now just dark reds and deep purplish blues and the outside edges were becoming black, really black for evening was here, the night had seen the day pass and it was now the realm of the evening.

And finally all the reds, oranges, blues, pinks, purples and hues in between disappeared and there was just Black sky all around. Well almost for just overhead, oh about sixty degrees up for the West was the moon, a big full moon, that giant hunk of yellow cheese which all mice dream about, and hope some day to reach so they can live out their days eating that big, huge chunk of yellow cheese in the sky. And what is funny, the moon is over 247,000 miles away, but most mice feel they could climb a tree or jump really high and they would have it.

Finally Mr. Wily Owl, looked down at the little mouse with the blue gingham bonnet and matching apron and spoke, "And what did you think of the sunset this evening my friend?" And his face and overall demeanor said he was at the acme of elation and fulfillment for he had done what he wished to do, that is show his friend something spectacular.

Peggy looked up into his eyes with eyes, which were dewed over with elation, and replied, "Oh Mr. Wily Owl, it was marvelous, the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and or will see. Oh thank you, thank you so much for letting me experience this sight." Then she stood on her back legs and reached up as far as she could and kissed Mr. Wily Owl, and again said, "Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Mr. Wily Owl then carefully took the small mouse into his right talon and they flew back to the barn in the bright moonlight, back home to McAllister Lane.

And Mr. Wily Owl was one happy and contented owl for he had shown a friend one of the beauties of this earth; the beauty of the ever changing natural art of our universe and a small portion of the beauty which is all around us, but most cannot or do not see, for they are too busy looking.