From his apple tree - extract one

From his Apple Tree
Extract one:
[…]
Charlie still took refuge in his apple tree daily, despite his growing ability to see the neglected beauty of daily life. On one occasion he realised the elephant in the neighbouring tree had something small on his belly. The pink elephant was relaxing on his back in a branch of the tree as though it was a hammock, with his legs dangling, as far as elephants legs can dangle, either side of the branch. On his belly sat a small mouse, the pair of them deep in conversation. Though hesitant to interrupt them, the sight of such an unlikely pair chatting away triggered too much curiosity to resist. He asked them how it was that an elephant and a mouse could be such good friends, for surely elephants are afraid of mice? They chuckled and the mouse explained the story. As she spoke the images formed in a small cloud between the trees and Charlie watched the scene unfold as though he had been there.
The mouse was in a clearing, in a woodland area, sniffing around a piece of cheese she had happened upon. Pleased with her find, she was just about to take a bite when a voice boomed: ‘Don’t eat the cheese!’ Startled, she paused and looked in the direction of the voice and saw the pink elephant climbing down a tree. Once down, the elephant turned and catching her breath repeated, ‘don’t eat the cheese! It’s poisoned!’
Confused the mouse sat down and looked up at the elephant, pondering that she had beautiful eyes… she asked ‘ why are you helping me? I thought elephants were scared of mice…’
‘Most are’ replied the elephant, ‘but a mouse once helped me out of a sticky situation and since then I prefer them to be my friends.’
The mouse considered asking about the sticky situation, but the rumbling in his belly brought his attention to the current matter. ‘Why do you think the cheese is poisoned?’
‘Well, I may like mice but there are other big animals which may like to eat you, and rather than go through the hassle of catching a scurrying mouse first, mice are easier to eat if they are already dead; hence the poisoned cheese.’
‘But surely if an animal ate a mouse that had eaten poison the animal would be poisoned themselves?’
‘Ah, but the animal may be much bigger than the mouse and would need to consume far more poison than is necessary to kill a mouse, to damage themselves.’
The mouse considered asking what animal the elephant was talking about but decided she would rather not know. She scratched her head wondering if she should trust the elephant. She was very hungry and it might be safe to eat the cheese… She looked up at the elephant again and saw only kindness in her eyes. There was no doubt this was a friendly elephant. The elephant smiled and lifted her trunk into a crooked shape causing the mouse to giggle. The elephant invited the mouse to share his nuts and the pair strolled and giggled their way to the pink elephant’s tree where they now sat telling Charlie their story. 
[…]