THE CITY MOUSE AND THE COUNTRY MOUSE: A PARABLE

Once upon a time in a big, dusty southwestern city where the Country Mouse had gone to find work, a City Mouse and a Country Mouse became great friends. It was an unlikely friendship. The City Mouse was raised in the city and was fond of Big City things. He liked playing bridge and going to the theater and eating out and going to football and basketball games at the University.  The Country Mouse was raised just on the edge of a City but spent most of her time outside, hanging upside-down in her favorite tree or reading high up in its branches. She liked hiking in the mountains or the canyons, sleeping under the stars and visiting outdoor outfitters. She liked driving down empty Country roads as fast as she could and still keep her pickup on the road.

The City Mouse also liked to be busy storing up food for the future. He particularly liked to find the food and develop it into more food. For this he needed help, and this is how the Country Mouse came to work with him. The Country Mouse was a single Mouse Mom and she appreciated the flexibility that working in a small family business gave her.

The City Mouse enjoyed working with Country Mouse who was very efficient and smart and he especially enjoyed working. Country Mouse, who enjoyed being busy and taking on new challenges, did not find working or the City enough.  She needed Country things, So whenever she could, she and Little Mouse explored the Country.

For many years, City Mouse and Country Mouse had a happy partnership. But things change, whether they are City things or Country things, and everyone has to change with them. For the Country Mouse, change meant that her only Little Mouse moved away to a Big Country Place. The Country Mouse had always been close to her family, and especially to the Little Mouse.

Country Mouse decided she would try to figure out a way to move to the Big Country Place where Little Mouse now lived – at least part of the year. City Mouse knew this but hoped Country Mouse would change her mind – after all, Country Mouse had a very nice Mouse House and many, many friends in the City. But one day, Country Mouse, who had always wanted to live in a National Park which is the Biggest Country Place Possible applied and was hired for a job in the Endless Country National Park. This was pretty close to heaven in Country Mouse’s view.

And so Country Mouse moved to the Endless Country National Park and invited City Mouse to come visit. But this visit would be a Big Country visit. City Mouse would see wondrous Country things he would never see in the City and he would sleep on the ground like people visiting the Country often do. Country Mouse worried he might be Out of His Element.

Country Mouse picked up City Mouse at the nearest Sort-of-Big City. It was very late and very dark when City Mouse’s plane finally got to Sort-of-Big City. Country Mouse, knowing the nighttime was the best possible time for many large creatures to wander about, knew she would have to watch the roads carefully the long way back to the Very Little Village near Endless Country National Park. City Mouse would be borrowing her pickup truck over the next few days and she talked to him about the difference between driving in the City and the Country.

“You always have to keep your eyes on the sides of the roads so you can see where the animals might jump right in front of you! See, there! Two deer!” Country Mouse explained.  City Mouse said “What deer? I didn’t see any.”  Country Mouse realized that City Mouse had been looking right at the road in front of them, a very important City skill, instead of looking at the sides of the road. In the Country night, watching for movement or the shiny eyes of roadside animals is more important than watching for the very few vehicles on the road at night. She resolved to remember City Mouse had City habits and skills and she needed to keep reminding him he was in the Country now.

That night City Mouse stayed in a small cottage in the Very Little Village and then, the next day while Country Mouse worked, ventured into the Endless Country National Park. When Country Mouse asked him that night what excited him the most about his trip around Endless Country National Park, City Mouse said he saw many things he had never seen but was most intrigued about the mountain road construction techniques he saw along the way. Country Mouse sighed.

That evening, City Mouse and Country Mouse worked together to pitch City Mouse’s tent in the Campground. City Mouse had never pitched a tent but gamely followed Country Mouse’s instructions until he couldn’t figure out exactly how the tent stakes should be pounded into the ground.  Country Mouse showed him how to use a rock for this. She showed him how to keep his flashlight handy in case he needed to visit the Community Restrooms up the hill. Country Mouse even had acquired a blow up mattress for City Mouse, knowing how uncomfortable sleeping on the ground for someone who is not used to it could be.

Country Mouse often slept on the ground, just tossing down a very thin sleeping pad and crawling into her sleeping bag under the stars. She had always felt that a blow-up mattress was really a Luxury when sleeping under the stars but wanted City Mouse to sleep well for their excursion around Endless Country Park the next day.

The next two days, the City Mouse and the Country Mouse drove all over Endless Country Park seeing beautiful Country things you could never see in the City. At a stop at a particularly beautiful waterfall, City Mouse looked across the water to the mountainside above it. “Does the Park Service ever do maintenance?”

“What do you mean?” asked Country Mouse. Obviously, the Park did maintenance-the parking lot was clean, there were toilets and signs. “Well those trees over there on the ground. Do they ever go around and pick up those trees?” asked City Mouse.  Country Mouse explained that those trees were called deadfall and part of the Forest and did not need ‘maintaining’ since even dead they were vital to the ecosystem. City Mouse thought the whole place would look tidier if they were picked up. Country Mouse sighed, remembering that ‘Park’ meant something very different to City Mouse.

Eventually, over the next two days, City Mouse got to not only see Natural Wonders but lots of Very Big Animals like Elk and Bison. Country Mouse noticed that he was very careful to stay far away from the Very Big Animals as so many Park signs warned tourists to do and she was very proud of him. City Mouse also began to understand that a Mouse had to plan a bit further ahead in the Country because getting to a Store or a Gas Station was never ‘convenient’.

Country Mouse recognized that City Mouse was doing his best to learn Country ways. On the last day, City Mouse even got very excited when he spotted a Bull Elk with many points on his antlers. Getting excited about Very Big Animals out in the Wild is a Country thing and Country Mouse was happy she had invited him to the Park.

City Mouse, on the other hand, over the weekend realized that Country Mouse was In Her Element. That made him sad and worried Country Mouse might not come back to the City. He would miss his friend. Finally, he asked her when and whether she thought she might come back to work.  Country Mouse told him things change, all kinds of things, City things and Country things and Mice just have to adapt. Country Mouse told City Mouse that she didn’t know when she would move permanently to the Big Country Place to be near Little Mouse but that they both had to make some decisions about how this would be possible since Country Mouse had become such a vital part of the business they had built together over the years.

The final morning, Country Mouse delivered City Mouse back to the City. Trying to be in two different places at once would be difficult for awhile, she thought, as she left Sort-of-Big City to return to the Endless Country National Park but she thought with a little planning (and she always had been a Planner) City Mouse and Country Mouse could figure it out. After all, with the Internet and fast planes, the City is not so very far away from the Country anymore.