Capybara Cafe

There's very few perfect places on earth. That is true for just about everybody. The picture perfect movie scene that shows the perfect house or secluded hideout spot is only ever as wonderful as it is, because all the unflattering angles are behind the camera. Mabel, for one, had been alive long enough that she had let go of the dream of ever finding such a place, instead settling for a definitively too small apartment on the fourth floor with a vieCapybara Cafew on a busy intersection. It might have been a nice view for somebody, if not for the noise. Especially that corner shop on the opposite side of the street. It had once been a pawnshop, the neighbors had said, but had been undergoing extensive remodelling for just about two years before Mabel moved in. It had given her a decent alibi for the noise she had made while trying to upright pieces of furniture that weighed about half as much as she did, and she tried to keep the noise from drilling holes into walls to the times when the construction workers from the corner shop were doing their best to be louder than she was. When the construction was done, and the construction workers had taken down the scaffolding, she had almost gotten used to the noise starting at around 9 AM in the morning and lasting, sporadically, until 5 PM. The scaffolding left a slightly dusty, but visibly modern window front. There had been care taken in the outward-facing design. Soft and friendly rounded edges, and a cheerful, yellow typeface advertised something called Capybara Cafe.

The concept wasn't too outlandish to Mabel, though she had little sense of how it was going to do, or be realized. She had hoped for a cafe in walking distance from her place for a while at that point, but judging from her experience of cat cafes and the like, there was a good chance that the animals would be the selling point, and less so the coffee, which she needed to start a day, and pick up things again after lunch. Suffice it to say that she avoided the place for a while.

There was effectively no buzz around the Capybara Cafe, and she couldn't see much whenever she passed by the window. She successfully managed to talk herself into sticking to her french press coffee that would inevitably cool off during the course of the day until all that was left was room temperature, brackish liquid. It did its job fine, until autumn came around and brought the autumn flu with it. Mabel didn't feel like driving all the way downtown to get groceries when all she needed was coffee. By all other metrics, it was actually kind of a nice day. Sunny, and not too cold, with piles of red and yellow leaves lining the sides of the streets. If not for the fever and such, she might have gotten off work early and gone for nice afternoon cycle in the park, or maybe even taken a spontaneous trip to the town over. She had gotten caught in a torrential downpour the previous week though, and hadn't quite managed to stave off the resulting cold. The Capybara Cafe had outside seating, which was perhaps the only one she was prepared to take on. She waved at the barista through the window, gesturing at him, trying to communicate whether she could order from outside. She didn't know whether capybaras could get the flu. There was an extended back and forth between herself and a figure behind the counter that she had to assume was the barista, until he approached the door. Mabel stepped back, determined to keep her distance. "You don't want to come in?" he asked. Up close, he was cute. Soft, slightly too long curls tied back haphazardly, and some dark semi-circles under the eyes that told stories of long nights and early mornings. "I have a slight cold." she mumbled into the thick hand-knitted scarf she had used in lieu of a mask. "Oh, I see. What can I get you?" "Just a coffee. Espresso?" "To go?" "Please." "Right away." he gave her one of those pleasant customer service smiles that was about as much obligation as it was genuine joy at having made a sale. As soon as she had the piping hot cup in her hands, Mabel fled back into her apartment. She had gotten cold, waiting for her coffee outside. She took her first sip on the way up the stairs in the hallway. It was good, reviving even. She could imagine going back, especially in the mornings, provided they were open that early. The second time she visited the Capybara Cafe was a few weeks after, when she was caught on her back foot by a downpour of rain while out on a grocery run. She almost hurried past it, like she usually did, but something about the happy yellow shopfront gave her pause. Since she had stopped already, she decided she might as well head in and wait out the rain. It helped that returning back to work wasn't an especially exciting option that day. The interior was a similar tone of bright yellow and white, almost like it was supposed to be egg-themed. Several stickers of its namesake animal adorned the walls, partially hidden behind wall-shelves, lamps and other decorations. Mabel tried to leave as much of the rainwater on her outside, but it had soaked almost fully through her clothes and into her hair. Through the rain she could smell the musk of the animals that she now saw for the first time. The capybaras seemed to be largely unaccompanied, lounging around and watching the few patrons intently. There were some scattered bits of vegetables on the yellow vinyl floor. It was the same barista as she had met the previous time. Something about the way the interior looked told her that he was the only one working the counter, perhaps even an owner, trying their best to do everything. "Don't worry about the rain, the little ones drag around dirt anyways." he said, waving her away from the door. The place was sparsely visited. She found a seat in a far corner, where she felt comfortable placing her bags on the bench next to her and skimmed the menu. She wasn't usually so indecisive, but someone had made the choice that each item needed a cute name that made it somewhat difficult to discern what it was meant to be. There was a short description of the item underneath, but by the time she had made a decision, she found herself swarmed by several brown almost-beavers, trying to climb the bench and nudging her leg. "They can smell your groceries." the barista seemed amused. "Oh" Mabel pushed her bag away from the edge of the bench "Is that a problem?" "Not at all, but I would appreciate if you fed them. We have some carrots and somesuch for the visitors." "Okay, sure. Yeah." Mabel let one of the capybaras crawl over her legs and toward the bag. "If you'd like, we could place your bag into a locker while you're here?" "Please." she handed him her bag, along with her order. The coffee was good, as she had expected from the last time, and being nudged and bothered by the animals was charming, in its own way. The barista returned with something to eat for the capybaras, who were immediately beginning to climb Mabel's pantlegs again. She didn't immediately have an eye for telling them apart, but it was nice. Like a short trip to the zoo. It gave her a rare sense of calm handling the little critters, even while the slightly muffled sound of traffic, the same ones she would have heard from her apartment, leaked in through the door and windows.

As time went on, Mabel would return often, mostly for the animals. She still had no idea how to tell most of them apart, but she would have favourites. She enjoyed the downtime. Having the animals climb all over guests made it physically impossible to work there, even though she had tried several times. She spent many lunchtime breaks there, and before she knew it, her and the barista had struck a casual friendship, bonding over the animals. It was as close to a perfect place as she could imagine. Easy to get to, with all the things she needed, and several things she adored. She had always imagined perfect places like a snapshot from a fantasy movie. Woods, greenery, golden sunlight and a cozy, but spacious cabin, but it turned out hers was closer - much closer - than she expected.