I went for a walk through my neighborhood as the sun was going down and I took a wrong turn on one of the twisting unmarked streets. I found myself on a deserted dirt road, bordered on both sides by empty lots. These weren't your standard American empty lots with some scraggly grass and a few empty cans and stray pieces of litter. These were Brazilian empty lots, pieces of unclaimed jungle with plants that are bigger and more badass than I am. It had just gotten dark enough to be hard to see, but not so dark that the streetlights had clicked on. I live in a safe neighborhood, and I was feeling adventurous, so I kept going. The stretch of road was rough, and the gravel hadn't been compacted like it had on the more traveled roads. I was about 20 feet in when I started to hear some rustling behind me. I listened closely, cautious, but the only sounds were my footsteps and my accelerating heartbeat. I walked a little further. The rustling got louder and some squeaking joined in. I couldn't tell if the sound was human or not. I started walking a little faster. The sound was coming from both sides of the road now, and it was getting closer. It wasn't just behind me anymore either. I could eat rustling and squeaking from all directions. I almost turned around, but I was nearly to the end of the street and I knew I could get home from the intersection. There were only about 20 feet left. Then 15. Then all of a sudden a big dark shape burst out of the grass right in front of me, running as fast as it could and squeaking loudly. It had a blunt head and small ears and a tiny tail. I must have startled, because it turned to look back at me, and then disappeared into the grass on the other side of the road. And that's how I met the capybaras that live in my neighborhood.
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