Mouse and Hawk
-Inspired by a short piece written by a wonderful creative peer and friend.
Mouse was always looking up towards the sky for a singular reason in the hope of seeing Hawk’s golden wings. Mouse felt nothing but admiration towards Hawk. The purpose was unknown to the other animals who would often stop to observe the strange happenings of this one mouse. Unlike his brethren he did not fear Hawk’s shadow as it raced through the field, nor did he fear her mighty screech. They knew not whether it was out of ignorance or a misplaced understanding of where he belonged in the food chain. Most just assumed Mouse was a broken animal that was soon to be eaten by that which he admired most.
Mouse's needs were simple as one would expect of a singular rodent. He didn't act like his brethren, and others, like Snake, considered Mouse an odd gourmet prize that should be caught. To his credit, Mouse's heavenly distractions seemed to only aid in his longevity, being of so little interest to Hawk he was never noticed. His proximity to Hawk also made him safer from Snake, who dared not take on Hawk in a fair fight.
Mouse’s den was one of warmth and comfort. He had even built a window of sorts by nibbling a small hole in the back of his log perched home so that he could watch Hawk soar from her nest in safety. As one would walk through Mouse’s warn smooth wood entrance, you’d be first greeted by a hearth of downy hazelnuts which leaned against a wall of desiccated huckleberries. Now inside this cozy abode as you turn back towards the doorway you find yourself looked down upon a single golden feather. Most other visiting mice often would voice their concern for Mouse’s strange idolizations of a creature they knew only as another swift bringer of death. But mouse was a mouse set in his ways and cared very little about the thoughts of anyone besides that of Hawk.
Unfortunately for Mouse, besides the usual reason for not noticing a random strange mouse Hawk was now even more busy than usual. Hawk took to the sky more often since the birth of her new chicks. This moon cycle had tested Hawk in ways not known to many of her kind. Snake had previously somehow caught Hawk’s mate, and the task of feeding the ever-hungry chicks had now doubled for Hawk. Mouse himself was very puzzled at how Snake had accomplished this seemingly impossible task.
When Mouse wasn't chasing Hawk’s shadow, he would stay in his den of warm dry leaves for as long as he could. He would roll around and fondly squeak to himself about the previous day's sightings of Hawk. When this tired him, he'd bury his head deep in his pile of seeds and take a nap. He would continue this cycle until his thirst compelled him to depart his haven. Carefully placed above door to his home was one of Hawk’s gleaming feathers. Before hopping out he would always sit back on his tiny hind legs, rub his head a tad and just sit in awe for a few seconds while he admired his most prized possession.
His admiration of Hawk did not make him ignorant to the ever-present dangers around him. He was well aware of Snake’s plans to catch him. And knew that Snake had made a home right below his log perched den. Mouse’s home, a downed log leaning besides a tree, was fast becoming engulfed by wild mushrooms. Snake was, in fact, always looking to catch Mouse as he would jump out, and since snake lived below Mouse he couldn’t help himself but try. His reptilian brain refused to acknowledge that Mouse was wise to his plan, and so Mouse always landed safely when leaping out of his home towards the crisp golden stalks of the grassy plains.
The land around Mouse’s home was wide and mostly open fields. This was the edge of the Forest’s grasp on a land yet to be touched by Humanity. This land was pristine and lush to most creatures smaller than a Human. Mouse’s admiration of Hawk was uniquely strange purpose for any creature especially given most of the other mice of this land struggled to just live. And those mice that did survive inevitably just became food for larger hungrier animals like Hawk and Snake. But Mouse was uniquely immune to the cry of Hawk, though Mouse still felt the dread of death from every other creak and crack. Even the wind rustling through the grass was enough to stop that faint pitter-patter. But for some reason with Hawk, all of Mouse’s animal instincts turned off.
This day had been a good day for Mouse, he had found a fresh juicy berry the size of his head! He nearly died of exhaustion lugging the enormous red fruit into a less visible area to eat in safety. He had spent most of the morning doing his best to eat all the berry himself, but he soon found his tummy full and had to find a patch of bent grass to hide, so he could nap away his full belly. He decided to leave his prize for other mice to finish off. He found a fuzzy seed for a pillow and spun around in circles in the grass until he found just the right nap angle.
Whenever Mouse slept, he always dreamt the same thing. It was of him flying up in the sky with mighty wings just like Hawk. As he flapped his dream wings through the dream clouds, his real-world mouse body would let out tiny chirps while his little mouse legs would fidget and kick away. The highlight to Mouse was not the freedom of flight, but instead the acknowledgment he'd get while he flew alongside Hawk in his dream world. Mouse very much loved to dream, and he would always wake up a happy mouse.
A loud screech from Hawk jolted Mouse awake, but if only for a second before he was again shutting his eyes. His berry drunk brain could not distinguish for certain if it was only Hawk, so he thought it best to start waking up. Many other mice who had been in the field instantly leapt at this sudden noise, some even died as they nibbled a grain, but not Mouse, he just slowly motioned awake rubbing the sleep from his eyes. As a shadow passed over his temporary den of bent grass, Mouse knew to look up with his tiny mouse mouth and he gasped in amazement as Hawk swooped overhead skirting to tops of the grass.
He could not understand how Hawk flew so fast when his tiny legs could only scurry. This did not stop his tiny beady eyes from staring intensely through the grass at Hawk. He dropped his tiny seed pillow he had been holding close and rubbed his face clean of the sleep that gathered around his eyes. Soon his brain realized the owner of the screech was in fact his Hawk and he scurried awake. He then looked up again in a hurry hoping not to miss any second of Hawk. But Hawk was gone.
Mouse's heart was no longer racing in excitement but sank deep into his tiny mouse tummy as if a huge weight of seeds had filled it once again. He did not race back home as other mice do, but instead would only walk a couple tiny steps before turning back around to look again for Hawk soaring above. This was almost a daily ritual for Mouse when he was out of his comfy den, but today was the first time in many moons he had missed seeing Hawk soaring above. Mouse found much comfort in this monotonous existence of his, the wild routine of his life was worth it because of the little things he alone stopped to notice like Hawk soaring above.
Snake was always gone when Mouse returned home so he could take his time climbing back into his home. Snake was far too interested in coiling around a nice warm rock prior to nightfall to catch something as small as a melancholy mouse returning home. Perhaps if Mouse was a bigger meal Snake would have waited.
Mouse scurried up the jagged tree bark to his home as fast as he could, eager for a better vantage point. Below the wiggle of his Mouse's nose was a horizon of busheled browns and faded lichens draped over tall weathered wooden arms. The thirsty forest had nothing kind to give to Mouse as the sun fell towards its nightly slumber. Still no Hawk.
He looked back to his prized feather as he walked in and he was no longer sad about not seeing Hawk. As he rummaged around his home, sorting seeds and dusting off his feather he couldn't help but notice the differences in the sounds outside his home. Unlike other sunsets of the past when the Hawk’s chicks would screech for food only to be soon calmed by Hawk, today the screeching only grew…and grew...and grew...
Mouse, now lying on his bed of tiny seeds wasn't sure what happened to Hawk. His sense of comfort gradually turned to panic as he took notice of all the change, Mouse only feared change because he'd learned to always attribute change to death. He began thinking the worst, he thought maybe Snake had learned to climb so he started to cover up his door with leaves from his floor.
Mouse was now exhausted but very proud of his mighty leaf door. He peered out his window to look at what was happening to retrieve his daily gift. He could see the nest but saw no Hawk. One of his favorite parts of the day was seeing Hawk’s magnificent red feathers glisten in the fading light of the sun like gleaming garnets as she flew down to her chicks. The sun was now half set, but still no Hawk could be seen.
Mouse's very nature told him to ignore this all and stay half buried in his seed bed, for nothing in Mouse's mind was stronger than his leaf door and whatever was outside it was sure to be nothing good. But Mouse was quickly reminded of Hawk’s absence by the poor hawk Chicks which continued to cry desperately reminding him of his desire to see Hawk’s gleaming feathers.
In that split-second Mouse decided to tear down his mighty leaf door and leap from the safety of home towards the new and unknown. With a heart far mightier than any mouse, he scurried and rustled his way through the amber painted stalks of grass. His tiny little nose twitching and tweaking searching for any clue to this day’s frightful change.
A menacing Rattle noise came into ear shot and Mouse immediately came to a full stop. He knew that this was a noise that none of his kind dare ever approach. Mouse had come too far to allow fear to grasp his tiny heart. He was reminded by where he was and why his usual beautiful sunset routine had been savagely ripped away from him. What stood in front would have made most of his kind perish from fear alone. Mouse was out in an amber field confronted by this rattle of death, but he had no intention of turning back.
Mouse was shocked to hear that familiar noise of his Hawk in the same direction as the rattle. He wiggled his head a bit through the mighty trunks of the grass to try to see what was truly in his path.
A small clearing revealed itself, with Snake coiled tight glaring towards Hawk who was trapped in a dead wooded bush which was now a cage of sharp sticks and twigs. Mouse could see the only escape for Hawk involved Snake's fangs, and the only entrance for Snake involved Hawk’s sharp beak. Mouse knew this stalemate was driven by both animal pride and hunger, and he knew neither would give in without interjection.
By nightfall the cold winter air would best all three of them including the helpless Chicks far above. Now realizing all the risks Mouse was preparing to retreat, but before he could turn around to flee both of his black beady eyes were captured by the red glow of the setting sun on Hawk’s gilded wings. This was the sight that had thrown Mouse into this action, this was a sight that he had scurried home at night with the hope of seeing. Mouse realized in that moment this was what made Mouse love his monotonous life so much. To him these things were interconnected, he did not know a life without Hawk’s golden wings, nor did he want to.
Mouse knew though that he was still just a mouse, and these creatures might as well have been two Titans standing before a flea. He had not the courage or understanding of what it was to fight, for his heart was pure through and through and was not capable of violence of any kind.
With an immense push he squeezed his tiny body through the thick grass. The force caused him to lose balance and violently roll down the tiny hill. Squeak, His head tumbling down and down, SQUEAK!
His head now at rest in the dirt. His body welled up with pain, he’d never known such feelings of discomfort were possible. As he came to his feet his prey instincts remembered his surrounding and Snake, and as he looked up worried he had given away his position with his cries of pain he noticed neither Snake or Hawk... had noticed a thing. In that moment of panic Mouse had forgotten his teeny tiny size and how even in the past his movements seldom went noticed.
Mouse now injured and covered in dust slowly brought himself back up to his feet. What little ideas he had vanished along with his previously higher ground. But while in the presence of these Titans only a dozen nuts away from Snake, in that moment, an idea came to Mouse. Mouse figured if this was to be the end he would tell Hawk how much he admired her grand wings! With all he knew and all his strength he eloquently prepared to utter the sincerest of praises that any hawk would ever hear from any creature small or large.
"Hawk I..."
And right as his first word left his mouth; as his eyes for the first time finally met with those of Hawk’s. Snake turned around and struck at the heart of Mouse. In that single mighty moment of valor and courage Hawk was able to get free and land a killing blow to Snake.
Hawk was equally speechless and grateful for what Mouse had done, so Hawk freed Mouse from Snakes mouth allowing him to pass in a peace not often afforded to many of his small kind. Hawk said no words, for Mouse was already past any point of understanding and she knew her chicks needed her now.
Hawk outstretched her wings, and with a mighty effort took flight once again into the setting sun with Snake now in her talons soon to be fresh food for her young chicks.
With Mouse's last bit of strength, he looked up for the last and final time to see the sun's red glow glisten onto Hawk’s golden feathers. As Mouse closed his eyes for his last time and his body sank down deep into the earth, his mind finally took flight towards the sky.