Dixon Daantjies, in his first year at Vleiland High School on the crimeridden

Cape Flats, is much smaller than the other boys, and struggling

with his school work. Victimised by the class bullies, Clinton September

and Johannes Blaauw, he has created a survival mechanism for himself:

whenever he’s under pressure he escapes into a dream world where he

becomes Diehard Dixon, a multi-talented hero whom everyone admires

and respects.

The only time Dixon is happy is either at home with his caring parents

or working at the nearby animal shelter for strays, where his favourite

dog is Sniffer.

But he cannot escape the real world forever. His father is attacked at

his taxi rank by a former fellow taxi driver, Dillon Lake, who has escaped

from jail and is bent on settling an old score with Mr Daantjies. The stab

wounds become infected and unless the doctor can obtain the necessary

antibiotic, Dixon’s father could die.

In a feat that he doesn’t realise is heroic, Dixon rescues a kitten stuck

on the roof of a block of flats and befriends the owner, a girl his age

called Celeste April, who has lost her legs in a car accident. She agrees

to help him with his schoolwork. He confides in her his fear of losing

Sniffer, who is about to be adopted.

There seems to be no way he can adopt Sniffer himself but after he

confronts Dillon Lake and is aided by Sniffer in apprehending the

convict, the reward is everything he could have wished for. At school his

classmates have begun to treat him with a new respect, and on top of it

all his father’s life is saved.

Dixon ultimately comes to realise that all he has to be in life is not a

fictitious and unlikely hero, but himself.

Author: Jill Morsbach