Peta, The Navajo Cowboy

"My ancestors were Apache," he told me carefully removing some tobacco from a brown leather pouch and tucking it into his pipe. "You're the first Native American student we've had on the ranch. I hope you do well." He closed his eyes and inhaled the tobacco as if it had a redeeming quality. The sound reminded me of steamboat I once saw on the Trinity River at the state fare in Houston. The smoke smelled like sweet charcoal. I liked it.

Peta is a Navajo teenage boy experiencing work herding cattle from one large Texas ranch to another. Unfortunately, he is accompanied by a high school bully - now a drug addict - Anthony. Both boys will be indelibly changed after their trip.

America today, like all western countries, is struggling with the rise of racism, the problem of ever harder drugs and drug addiction, and forgiveness. This story attempts to capture that mood.
1 of 3