The first thing Gabriel does, when he leaves the home, is to go to Home Affairs. He’s written his Matric, he’s left school. He’s an adult now, old enough to be in control and do what he wants with his life. He can recreate himself, become the man he has imagined all these years. He will be rich, he will be successful. He will drive a good car, wear the right clothes, speak correctly, behave correctly, live well inside the lines. He will not be like his father, his feckless father, who ran out the back door and left Gabriel and his mother and Harry all on their own. Nor will he be like his mother, who turned to a cruel old man for support because she couldn’t think of what else to do. No, Gabriel resolves, as he walks through the doors of the children’s home, he is going to be his own man. He is going to reinvent himself. Become someone perfect, someone to whom only good things happen.