Kitchen Boy — Jenny Hobbs

Luck matters. Life is chancy. Springbok legend, war hero, thriving businessman - that was JJ Kitchen, known to all as Kitchen Boy. His was a life as large as a sports stadium, as thrilling as baling out of a burning war plane. Now he lies dead in his coffin in a Durban cathedral and his life is relived as funeral goers remember a glowing Natal childhood, the thunder of the rugby field, the joy and sorrows of family. But at the core of the man remained, to the end, the memory of WWII and how it could reduce even the bravest of men. The funeral draws to a close, but in the hearts of one of the pall-bearers, Kitchen Boy's shameful secret lives on.