Capybara Hot Spring

Jelly glances around. His brown ears twitch. Seeing and hearing nobody, he steps out of his sandals, quickly folds his towel in a neat pile, and slips into the hot water. The scents of grapefruit and sandalwood soak into his nose and run through his whole body. He shivers with tired delight.

He relishes the Wednesday afternoon silence. Jelly recalls with a frown the last time he tried to come to this hot spring–the best capybara hot spring–on a weekend and how packed it was. The atmosphere was jovial and chatty, with everyone jostling around in the water, asking him questions about his life, patting each other with tiny wet paws in greeting. 

He lets the memory go, reminding himself he’s here to relax. He slides deeper into the water, his toes and his furry round belly poking up above the surface as his nose goes under.

The air around the circular stone hot spring is frosty, and steam rises. Jelly admires thick white layers of snow that blanket the stones and pine trees. The sun makes faint pink and blue crystals sparkle on the surface of the snow. 

All of Jelly’s thoughts feel very far away now. Just what he came here for. 

His ears perk up suddenly. He hears a light padding on the dark stone steps. Someone’s coming. 

Without even thinking about it, Jelly starts to stand up, reaching for his towel. Even worse than talking to strangers is strangers seeing me naked, he thinks. 

But he freezes when a furry person rounds the corner and stands there–another capybara, a little bigger than Jelly, who has a small pink towel wrapped around his waist. He blinks, apparently not expecting to find anyone here, either.

“I was just leaving,” Jelly says, reluctantly, despite his body telling him to stay and soak the tiredness out of him. 

“No, stay,” the other capybara says. His voice is warm and calm. Something tells Jelly that even with another person here, he won’t be bothered. Relieved, he sinks back into the water. 

The capybara climbs into the same pool as Jelly and introduces himself as Milboy. 

For a few moments, Jelly tracks Milboy out of the corners of his half open eyes. But the fragrant hot water and the silent snowscape are too relaxing. Before he knows it, he’s floating again, his eyes closed and head nearly underwater. Milboy does the same on the opposite side of the pool.

They float together in silence, occasionally grabbing a sliver of grapefruit floating by on the water to munch on its juicy tartness. The sun starts to drop in the sky. The two capybaras migrate, paddling gently, to the side of the pool with a stone wall behind it so that they can watch a purple and orange sunset over the open landscape. 

When it gets dark, Jelly peeks an eye open and sees Milboy contentedly looking out over the view. 

I can’t believe I’m about to do this. He coughs to prepare his voice but it comes out as a furry chortle. Jelly nervously says, “I hear at night time, they play Christmas jazz here.” 

Milboy looks over, eyes opening with surprise. He lifts his head above the surface of the water to say, “That sounds delightful.” 

Jelly thinks again, Why am I doing this? I hate talking to strangers. But he chatters on, “You can also ask them to bring floating snack platters. Their best one is melon, winterberry, and duckweed.” 

Milboy opens his eyes wider this time and gurgles some bubbles in the water. 

Jelly thinks, That wasn’t even annoying. 

Milboy sits upright on the stone bench encircling the inside of the hot pool. “Do you come here often?” 

Jelly nods. “When I can. I don’t like it when it’s too busy. I mostly prefer to be alone.”

Milboy looks at Jelly and asks, “Is my company alright?” 

Jelly is caught off guard at the directness. “Oh. Yeah! Yeah. I don’t mind you here at all.”

Milboy chuckles, eyes half closed with relaxation. 

“Are you always this calm?” Jelly blurts, his curiosity taking over. 

Milboy makes a muffled noise that Jelly realizes is a laugh. “This is the most relaxing place in the world. I’m calm here.”

“You just seem more at ease than most people. Even here.”

“Well, I suppose it takes a lot to forage and keep my sisters safe from the snakes. You know how it is. I guess I don’t want to worry when I don’t have to. Plus, there are other things that I think about.” Milboy looks distant for a moment. 

Jelly listens, falling silent. 

Suddenly, in the darkness, twinkling bulbs light up the surrounding trees, casting a warm glow over the snow and reflecting in the water. A soft aura of jazz floats through the air. Jelly recognizes The Christmas Waltz and relishes the dreamy notes of his favorite holiday tune. 

“There it is,” says Milboy, sinking back into the steaming water.

A grin escapes from Jelly’s face. Milboy notices and cracks a smile himself, revealing a single long front tooth. He quickly clasps his hands over his mouth, looking away in embarrassment. 

It’s the first time Jelly has seen Milboy lose his composure, and he thinks, He’s even cuter than I thought. 

Milboy looks up, noticing Jelly observing him. Jelly feels the urge to look away and withdraw into his own world but something tells him, It’s okay. 

Milboy ventures timidly, “Do you want to dance?” 

The song changes to When You Wish Upon a Star. Jelly feels his heart’s hard edges cracking a little bit, becoming gooey like cookie dough. He thinks, I’ve been holding onto this this whole time? Hard edges around my heart? 

He looks back at Milboy, who is starting to fidget nervously. “Yes!” He says, a little too loudly. “I do want to dance.”

Milboy swims a little. Jelly swims a little. They meet in the middle of the pool, their rounded noses a couple inches apart. 

Milboy extends a small black paw out and Jelly places his own on top. They hug, Jelly resting his head on Milboy. Milboy’s fur is coarse and he smells like sawdust. Jelly feels at home, like a missing piece that has clicked into someone’s puzzle. The two capybaras sway, occasionally paddling the water with a small webbed foot to the rhythm of the ambient jazz. 

At the song’s end, Milboy pulls back for a moment and looks at Jelly with dewy eyes. Jelly, in a trance, nuzzles Milboy’s face. He jerks back slightly, mortified at the realization of what he’s done. But Milboy grins with his large single tooth and places a small kiss on Jelly’s snout. Jelly blushes wildly, hoping it’s not visible in the darkness, even with the twinkling lights. 

They release each other and float side by side in the hot water as it starts to snow big, fluffy flakes. 

“You know, you’re one of a kind,” Milboy says. 

Jelly blinks and says, “I know. I just… never thought that was a good thing.”

“Well, how do you feel about my tooth?” Milboy points to his face.

Jelly says, “I really like it. It makes you you. Like, you made sense to me once I saw it.” 

Milboy nods proudly. “I know–I could tell that’s how you feel. Every capybara in the world has two front teeth. It’s what makes us who we are. I only have one, and I’ve been worried about it my whole life. I suppose that’s what I mean.” 

Jelly extends a paw out over the water towards Milboy. Milboy takes it in his own. Jelly feels so warm and cozy in this capybara hot spring with the soft jazz, warm lights, and snow falling in the night.