The midday summer heat was scorching, the small town of Blazer's Mill off in the distance. It's outline seemed to shimmer and wave at Zas. He stared at it from his little bit of shade he'd been able to find under the corn stalks of one of the white farmer's fields in order to catch his breath and cool off before walking the rest of the way. He had taken the shortcut through the corn field after leaving his tribe for the day, like he had done many times before, to attend one of the white people's school classes.
The sun bore down on the desert. The wind seemed to even be burned away as no breeze blew. Zas poured a little of his stored water pouch onto his head, as he looked up at the sky to see a lone vulture circling around the area. As the water took it's effect of slightly cooling him off he took in his surroundings and noticed that standing nearby him was a tall figure held up on wooden post, casting darker shade onto Zas position.
Zas had never seen such an odd thing before in his life. It resembled a human white man dressed in overalls and wore a long sleeved flannel shirt, both of which were severely torn and well worn. The lone silhouette was definitely not human though, as rather than having normal skin it was stuffed to the seams with straw and horse hay. It had a burlap sack that had been painted various colors to further enhance the features of this thing being human-like. Atop it's head however, lay what truly captured Zas' attention. It was an old capotain hat. The wide brim which at one time may have had a firm form, was now drooped downwards. It was very tattered with stitching coming loose in several places and seemed to be more or less garbage.
Zas approached the figure cautiously to get a closer look. He poked it to settle and resolve any doubts he may have had about it being alive, and thankfully it was not. It was then that Zas had a thought. He had seen the white men wear hats into town before and had seen how useful they had been at preventing their faces and necks from getting burned by the sun. He decided to try the hat on to see how it felt. He reached up to the top of the straw man's head and grabbed the hat.
He placed it on his head and looked around. The hat was slightly too big, but would serve him well enough to use. He looked back at the town while wearing his hat and could see the town outline a little clearer now, with the hat allowing him to not have to squint his eyes so much. Satisfied that it was usable, Zas gathered his other belongings and began the rest of the walk to the schoolhouse.
He had made it no more than twenty feet when he heard a horse galloping towards him at full speed. He turned just in time to see a gleam of metal reflect sunlight at him as a white man in a blue uniform came charging at him with a sword raised high.
Zas barely dodged out of the man's way. The man stopped his horse and turned around to charge again and said, ""I saw you steal that poor farmer's property indian! You are going to pay for this offense." He charged right at Zas again.
Zas slightly more prepared this time stood his ground and waited until the horse was right upon him before he jumped at it, wrapping both hands around the horse's neck and swinging himself and his legs to kick the white man off the saddle. The white man fell and slid a few feet before rolling to a stop. Zas jumped off the horse soon after and said in english, "I didn't mean to offend anyone. I will return it. It just didn't look like it was being used by anybody."
The white man shook his head as he said, "I see. So you're saying it's the farmer's fault that he didn't post a sign saying his property was his? Well, now I have all the more reason to end you here and now for being not only a thief and an indian, but ignorant too. I'll be doing everyone a favor." The man ran at Zas swinging his sword left and right making it almost impossible for Zas to avoid the blade. Zas managed to stay just out of reach of the blade tip.
He tried to back away and even took off the hat and tossed it to the ground at the man's feet saying, "Look, there it is. You can have it." The man however would have none of Zas's logic. He continued to press forwards aggressively.
Zas- still uneasy about his last change was hesitant to respond violently, but given the circumstances he felt it near impossible to not change as he still felt the inner rage. As the white man pressed on, Zas finally stopped backing up and stood his ground. His anger boiled to the surface until he erupted in a loud roar of fur and claws.
The man swinging the sword, took one look at Zas and rather than fleeing like the Commanche warrior did, or continuing his assault, he just fainted to the ground.
Zas let out a long loud howl. He struggled to keep control of his fury, as he didn't want to have a repeat of his last change, but the white man had goaded him on for so long. After several minutes of walking around the motionless body of the fainted man growling loudly, while he debated his course of action, Zas was able to eventually regain control of himself and temper his rage and transformed back into his homid form. He picked up the white man's sword as both insurance that the man wouldn't try to attack again and as a souvenir that Zas had been able to restrain himself.
He then walked back over to the place where he had thrown his hat and picked it back up and placed it atop his head and then without another word started walking back to his tribe....school was going to have to wait for today.
Home 
