The CAPYBARA

A bit before midnight I got up and looked out the window and saw a strange animal on the grass, near the curb. It was tense as if sniffing the air. It was too small to be a deer, but not a dog, the shape was wrong. I guessed it might be a capybara. I don’t know how one drifted so far north on a hot July night. The thermal conditions must have been just right. It stayed an animal for eight more seconds then I realized it wasn’t. On 32nd Street in that very spot is a fire hydrant, so tame we almost forget it is there.