The Tumbleweed Ranch

De: Roger Vesperman

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

In May of 1865, the Carson family was traveling through the plains of Indian Territory in their covered wagon. Rounding a bend in the trail, they were attacked by Comanches. Their wagon was set on fire, and the parents and the two boys were killed.
Six-year-old Celia escaped into the tall grass. But a powerful, long-limbed Indian soon captured her and took her to his wife to raise.
Eight years later, Celia was escorted by soldiers to an Indian boarding school near Tulsa, Oklahoma where she became friends with the only other white student in the school. He had also been captured and raised by Indians, who dubbed him Running Deer.
Miserable at the school, Celia and Running Deer soon made their escape. After traveling several days, they came upon an abandoned cabin in rural New Mexico, not far from Albuquerque. They moved in, cleaned, renovated, and enlarged the cabin until it was livable.
Later, they came upon two orphaned brothers and took them in. Soon after, they rescued "Yellow Flower," an eight-year-old Comanche girl whose mother had died, leaving her to wander about the streets of Albuquerque begging and stealing for food.
Before long, word got out, and other desperate children joined them. They were white, Indian, Black, Jewish, Protestant, faithless, and "slow." The residents called themselves "tumbleweeds" because they were much like those dry, shrubby mounds. Often torn from their roots by winds, they are blown about the prairies, eventually tangling with other tumbleweeds and coming to rest.
The tumbleweed compound came to be known as the Tumbleweed Ranch. For income, residents captured, tamed, trained, and sold wild horses.
In the beginning, none of the members were adults. How could such underage misfits possibly survive the inevitable attacks by thieves, murderers, and well-meaning zealots?