Cowboy Code

Crazy about cowboy movies, fourteen-year-old Bobbie Grey uses Gene Autry’s code of honor as her moral guide. When her father is killed in an explosion at the paper mill, her mother takes a job at the mill and becomes enamored with co-worker Phoenix. Bobbie yearns for her mother’s attention while secretly in love with Covey, a young boxer from the African settlement. Burr, a Navy man on leave, woos Maggie and when he ships out, Phoenix declares her love for Maggie and becomes Bobbie’s ally. When Bobbie takes forbidden walks to the African settlement, Covey’s family takes her in.

During the night, Klansmen come for Covey and beat him, accusing him of prowling. Phoenix begs Maggie to leave Burr but she refuses until she discovers him with another woman. From Phoenix, Bobbie learns that love transcends race and gender and that it sometimes requires the ultimate sacrifice—letting go.

Louella Bryant is author of While in Darkness There is Light, winner of Southwest Writers Award, and the collection Full Bloom, which won the Premier Award for Fiction. Her young adult novels Black Bonnet and Father By Blood also have won awards. Louella has acquired prizes for short stories and poems appearing in magazines and anthologies. Formerly with Spalding University's MFA in Writing Program, Louella now works as independent editor. Visit her website at http: //louellabryant.com.