The Trouble Shooter

Eleven-year-old Axel Nielsen and his ten-year-old girlfriend Elsa Johannsen were happily chatting as they walked away from Winfield, Kansas’ one-room school. But their cheery conversation quickly ended when they saw Elsa’s father striding towards them with a somber look on his face. Axel thought Mister Johannsen was going to scold Elsa. But when he noticed a large cloud of black smoke rising into the air above his family’s farm, he realized her father wasn’t going to chastise Elsa. He was coming to give him horrifying news about his parents and two brothers.

After his worst fears had been confirmed, Axel vowed to find and punish those responsible for murdering his family. So, with the charred remains of his parents’ house and barn still smoldering, Axel Nielsen began following the massive herd of cattle that had crushed his family home. He needed to confront them no matter how many grown men with rifles and pistols he’d be facing. Before he left, he told Elsa he’d return. But after a single, brief visit, Axel would never see Winfield again.