In the heat of the Texas summer, there's no cool place to hide. For the street people, it's especially bad, and every prime spot is guarded with grim ferocity. Which is why Cow Lady, homeless for too long, is keeping quiet under the shady decking of a restaurant, when she overhears voices raised in violence.
Cow Lady realises that their plot against the State Legislature is in deadly earnest, but who'd believe an old drunk? Only the journalist covering the lives of her bag-lady companions - investigative reporter Molly Cates. But Molly's already preoccupied, following the passage of a bill to legalise the carrying of hidden weapons, and burdened by the wealth of personal memories this brings.
Nobody knows that within the gun lobby lurks a band of extremists who believe that the bill will work against them. And that the right to bear arms is more important than any other, including the right to live.
