David also was able to play sports again. At first this consisted of playing soccer, which required only the use of his feet. As his fingers continued to heal and become more flexible, he found that he could catch and throw a cricket ball. Before long, he was once again playing cricket for Wairarapa College. However, the injury did curtail his gymnastics. He could still vault and tumble, but without two fingers on his left hand, he no longer had the grip necessary for the parallel bars and Roman rings.
Losing two fingers brought David an unexpected influx of money. One day, Mr. Hills, the new master at Sedgley, called him to his office and explained that the government was going to pay David two thousand pounds’ compensation for losing his two fingers. “I’ll arrange to have the money deposited into a trust fund for you. You won’t be able to spend it until you’re eighteen.”
David left Mr. Hills’s office stunned. Two thousand pounds was a lot of money, and it still would be in four years, when he would be allowed to spend it.
Back at Wairarapa College, classwork continued to be a challenge for David. He liked his metal work, woodwork, and technical drawing classes, but math, science, and English were excruciatingly boring, especially English. In fact, the homies in the class took every opportunity they could to escape from English class. Whenever Mr. Mountford, their teacher, turned to write on the blackboard, David or one of the other homies would climb out through the classroom window and hide under the school building for the rest of the period. No one really seemed to care that the boys did this, and Mr. Mountford never came looking for them. David knew why this was: they were homies, and no one expected much from the homies. He knew that most people thought they were juvenile delinquents who would most likely end up in jail when they finished school. The only place the homies were respected at Wairarapa College was on sports teams, where they were often star players with a reputation for toughness.
David also knew that all the boys at Sedgley were aware of the community’s perception of them—boys who probably wouldn’t amount to much in life and, if they did manage to stay out of jail, would most likely end up as laborers on a farm or a building site somewhere. This, however, didn’t stop the boys from having dreams, which they sometimes talked about together. One day as David and several of the other homies were in the workshop making repairs to their bikes, they talked among themselves about life after Sedgley.
“I’m going to buy a farm and marry a beautiful wife,” one of the boys said.
“I’m going to move to Auckland and find a good job there,” said another.
“And I’m going to land a job in an office somewhere. You wait and see,” added another boy.
David listened to what the others said and thought for a few moments. He didn’t often talk to the other boys about what he was thinking, but this time he opened his mouth and said, “I’m going to be a millionaire and retire by the time I’m forty!”
The other boys stopped what they were doing and stared at David, who could scarcely believe the words he had just spoken. Yet deep down inside he knew that he could do it. He didn’t know how, but one day he was certain that he would be a millionaire. Time would tell.
Chapter 4
A New Beginning
Hot dogs! Hot dogs! Get your hot dogs here.”
David was on his way to watch a visiting team play the local Masterton rugby team at Solway Showground, located about two blocks from Sedgley. He had been to the venue to watch many rugby games before, and on those occasions he had not particularly noticed the vendor selling hot dogs from a stand outside the main grandstand. But today, something about the rhythmic way the man called out to the crowd attracted David’s attention. David stopped for a while and watched the hot dog vendor at work. As he watched, he began to think that this was something he could do, something that combined two important things for him—his love of sports and the need to earn some money.
“Would you be willing to rent me a stand?” David finally asked the hot dog vendor.
The man gave David a long, sideways glance.
“I think this is something I could be good at,” David added.
“You do, do you?” said the vendor.
David nodded.
Before long, David had worked out an arrangement with the hot dog vendor. The vendor would provide him with a stand from which to sell hot dogs, and in return, David would pay him a portion of all the money he made. The next time a rugby game was held at Solway Showground, David was there with his hot dog stand, eagerly selling hot dogs to people as they flooded into the grandstand.
David was amazed at how easily things went and at how much money he was able to make, even after he had paid the vendor his commission. It was not nearly as hard as mowing lawns or milking cows. Within a month he had arranged for a second hot dog stand. He recruited one of his friends from Sedgley to man the stand and collected a share of his profits, which he kept for himself. At the end of three months, David had three hot dog stands at the showground. The whole enterprise was a revelation to David. It might not make him a million pounds, but the experience showed him that he seemed to have an innate feel for business.
While David was successful with his hot dog stand endeavor, he continued to struggle along academically at high school. No matter how hard he tried, schoolwork was difficult. But away from the classroom, on the sports field it was a different matter. David played on Wairarapa College’s cricket, rugby, and soccer teams, where he excelled.
When David arrived at Sedgley from Boys’ Home in Lower Hutt, Mr. and Mrs. Jonkers managed the place. When the Jonkerses moved on, Mr. and Mrs. Hills replaced them. The Bakers followed Mr. and Mrs. Hills. Most of the time, the Bakers reeked of liquor, and each time Mr. Baker weaved his way unsteadily down the corridor, word spread that the couple were alcoholics. As a result, the Bakers did not last long at Sedgley. In 1956 Lyndsay and Vera Bussau and their five-year-old daughter, Rochelle, arrived to take the Bakers’ place.
The Bussaus had a more relaxed management style than their predecessors, choosing to selectively enforce the rules that governed the boys’ behavior at Sedgley. David noticed that his friend Wocky, or Rob, was one of the first to benefit from this more relaxed approach. Because it was against the rules for the boys at Sedgley to have a girlfriend, Rob had been secretly dating Diane, an attractive girl from Wairarapa College. He would sneak off after the lights went out to see Diane. But with the Bussaus running Sedgley, Rob was now allowed to go to Diane’s house for lunch on Sundays. David envied Rob. He would like to have a girlfriend, and he secretly admired Dorothy Bell, a girl in one of his classes at school. But while he found her attractive, he lacked the confidence to talk to her. Besides, he was a Sedgley boy, he would tell himself, and everyone knew that Sedgley boys were the lowest of the low. Why would a girl like Dorothy Bell be interested in him?
One day David found Rochelle Bussau, or Rocky, as most people called her, sitting and playing with some blocks. He asked her what she was making.
“I’m making a house,” Rocky replied with pride.
“Here, let me help you,” David said as he sat down beside her.
Even David was impressed by the end result. It was interesting, and Rocky seemed delighted with it. She insisted on dragging her mother out to admire it.
Then, several days later, when the chain came off Rocky’s bike, David wheeled the bike around to the workshop and repaired it for her. He watched as Rocky pedaled off on the bike when he was done, waving back at him as she went.
David had to admit that he was growing rather fond of Rocky. He began to treat her like a little sister, and he sensed that Rocky liked him, too, seeking him out to talk and play with her. And David would oblige whenever he could.
The Bussaus noticed the little sister/big brother relationship that had developed between David and their daughter. Soon David found himself being invited to the Bussaus’ quarters, where he would hang out and play with Rocky while Vera Bussau served him tea in a china cup and plied him with cookies. David enjoyed these times in the Bussaus’ quarters. The family had a closeness that he had never felt in his own family back in Moera. David felt valued, and he felt that the Bussaus really cared about him.
During these times, however, David noticed a few things about the Bussaus. Vera Bussau, a short, rotund woman, ruled the roost. She was always telling her husband, Lyndsay, a lanky man with glasses and a bushy mustache, what to do, and she could become very angry very quickly when he failed to follow her instructions.
Despite these observations, David continued to enjoy the time he spent with Lyndsay, Vera, and Rocky. In fact, he looked forward to spending time with them, even when the other boys ribbed him about the cozy, favored relationship he had forged with the new managers.
During 1956, David’s name was added to the Sedgley Honor Board. Each year the name of the boy deemed the best at the home was inscribed on the board. David felt a strange pride when he saw his name on the board. He knew it wouldn’t seem like much to the other boys in his class at school, but within the system at Sedgley, it was quite an honor. It reinforced to David that by working hard and applying himself, he could make a difference in the daily lives of those around him.
As 1957 rolled around, David entered his final year of high school. As usual, he continued to struggle in the classroom. The only thing that excited him at school was sports. By now, with all the physical activity he had been involved in over the years, he had developed into a solid, muscular young man, talented in multiple sports. As a result, during his final year David served as the captain of the Wairarapa College First XI cricket team in the summer and captain of the school’s top soccer team during the winter. It was a great honor, and even though he was a homie from Sedgley, students at Wairarapa College looked up to him. David savored his achievement.
One day during 1957, Lyndsay Bussau called David aside to talk.
“David,” Lyndsay began, “I’ve accepted a job as a teacher, and Vera, Rocky, and I are going to be moving shortly down to Timaru. We were wondering if you’d like to come and live with us there.”
At first David was shocked to hear that the Bussaus were leaving Sedgley, but then he was delighted—and honored—that they wanted him to come and live with them. Not only was he in his last year of high school, but also he was in his last year of living at Sedgley. At the end of the year he would be expected to move out on his own, find a job, and build a life for himself outside the institutional setting he had lived in for the past eight years. What the Bussaus were offering David was a sense of belonging as he moved into this next phase of his life, a place where there would be people around who he believed truly cared about him as a person.
“Yes! I’d love to come with you to Timaru,” David replied.
It was agreed that David would finish the year at Wairarapa College and then travel to Timaru to join the Bussaus.
“Have a good trip,” David told Rocky as the Bussau family set out for Timaru.
“I’m going to miss you,” Rocky replied.
“You know I’ll be down there with you soon,” David said.
Throughout the rest of the year David daydreamed about what it was going to be like living with a normal family, and he eagerly awaited the start of his new life.
As the end of the year approached, David began making plans for the move south to Timaru. He didn’t have much to take with him, mostly clothes, a few books, and the experience of having grown up in an orphanage, some of which had been good and some bad.
Finally the school year was over, and David said good-bye to the boys at Sedgley and left his life in Masterton behind. He was on his way to Timaru, located midway down the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island. He took a bus south from Masterton to Wellington, where he spent a few days exploring the city. Then he caught an overnight ferry to Nelson, at the top of South Island. From there he caught another bus that would take him to Timaru.
