opening to my book - Gnome killer or liberator?

When times are hard for themes for writers. we often look to our favourite heroes for inspiration.. that mine was a cartoon. made life even worse. The Siegle family lived in Glendive, and when they came across lean times, their beloved lawn gnome was repossessed. Since it was necessary to protect the zucchini garden against "witches, spells and wood trolls", my father dressed me up as a gnome and forced me to stand watch for hours at a time during the day and night. Any time I tried to move, such as when friends came by to play "Kick ball", to eat hot dogs or to wave at my neighbor Kenny, father was right there, yelling at me "Bewegen Sie nicht!" Do not move! Needless to say I developed a hatred for a lawn gnomes..

The first gnome to go was Jerome.  The police never found pointy hat nor a shred of him.