Prologue?

The author immediately whets our curiosity with David's memories and the fact that there are things that continue to affect him years after he fact. As a boy, David is surrounded by danger and fear. His father weeps, his mother wields a gun, and a Sioux woman by the name of  Marie Little Soldier catches our interest and imagination. The setting, the characters..... each of these create interest and provide a backdrop to a story we soon find ourselves wanting to know..... we want to know more. Thus, our interest is piqued, and the desire to know more keeps us reading.