The Testimony of Taliesin Jones (24 page)

'
You'll h
ave to s
tart
w
ith th
e
fir
st
bo
ok we
u
sed -
J
ohn
Th
ompson's
b
ook,'
Bill
y
sa
ys. '
I
can'
t m
ake yo
u w
ant to do i
t. Y
ou've go
t t
ime
on your sid
e.
I
was
f
orty w
hen I
star
ted
.
M
y Ski
n
C
lock
s
tayed up for
over a seco
nd
and a
h
alf.'

Ta
liesin
fi
nds h
is
h
and
b
eing
t
aken
up
in B
illy's
warm e
ncompassing h
and.
H
e
i
s s
lightly
co
nscious
of
h
is wa
rts.

'
Hold
o
ut
yo
ur h
and, li
ke
so,'
Billy says
.
'T
hen
p
inch t
he
s
kin
o
n th
e
b
ack
o
f
yo
ur h
and.
Th
at's yo
ur
Sk
in
C
lock
.
'
T
aliesin's s
kin t
wangs
b
ack. '
It's
elas
tic,
see
.
I
t's yo
ung
ski
n. It
s
hows
yo
u th
at
i
t's ea
rly in
yo
ur li
fe.
P
lenty
of time fo
r
p
iano; pl
enty of
t
ime for a
nything. P
inch
m
ine,
r
ight
th
ere o
n th
e
b
ack o
n
my
h
and,
th
at's
it. And l
ook a
t
i
t. It
s
tays
pi
nched
fo
r th
ree
seco
nds,
a
t l
east
.
It s
its
up lik
e t
hat. It
's
l
ate in my
l
ife.
Th
ere are on
ly
so
m
any
thin
gs
I
ca
n
do
n
ow. You can do many
th
ings
.
' Bi
lly's
Skin
C
lock i
s s
low
a
nd
mot
tled,
mar
ked
by age
.
T
aliesin's S
kin
C
lock
is s
prightly, t
wanging
b
ack to i
ts
or
iginal p
osition w
ith
ti
me
o
n
i
ts
si
de.
'T
he thi
ng is no
t
to
h
ave a
f
ear
fo
r t
hose
n
otes,'
Bill
y goes o
n
.
'T
hey're
the
re
to help yo
u. I
had
exac
tly th
e sa
me
pro
blem. I h
ated them. T
hey
a
lways
seeme
d
s
uperior,
s
taring b
ack
f
rom
th
e page
.'

I've been pretending all this time,' Taliesin admits
.
W
ith
the admission he feels something lift off his chest.

'If
you didn't have such a good ear, I'd have noticed it a long time ago
.
The thing is you've raced ahead, because you
pick things up here and not her
e.'
Billy
points from Taliesin'
s
ear to his head.

Taliesin asks Billy who the man in the photo
graph
i
s.

'Spud Williams -plays for Wale
s,'
Bill
y s
ays.

'How do you know him then?'

'H
e's
been here a coupl
e
of times
.'

'For piano?'

'No
.
I was helping him with his shoulder -h
ealing.'

'Is that what all these people come her
e
for
,
lik
e
that lady?
'

'Yes
.'

Taliesin didn't expect Bill
y
to say it straight out.

'
What do you do
?'
he asks
.

Bill
y
holds out his hands
.
'I lay these on people and pray f
or
them
to be healed
.
And sometimes, with God's help
,
th
ey
are.'

Taliesin
tries to picture thi
s,
seein
g
only boilin
g
pot
s
an
d
wands
,
a wizard's hat, and bubbling
t
roublin
g
cauldron
s:
all
the cliches of
magic he can conjure. H
e'd
like to be an apprentice
.

'Do
y
ou cast a spell?' he asks.

'It's
a prayer. It's simple
.
You could do it
.
The hard part is believing
y
ou can do it
.
That
's
why we're not all doing it. Anyone can heal if
they believe in the power of God,' Billy s
ays
.
To hear God mentioned in this way is
e
xciting and
unnerving
.

'What do I have to believe?' Taliesin asks, wanting to
get it right.

'That there is a God. That you can ask him to heal. '

'Could I
s
ee you do it -to that lady?'

Billy puts his hands together.

'We'll
have to ask Mrs Willis if she mind
s.
P
eople
are funny. '

'1'd like to learn how to do it,' Taliesin says
.

'We'll have to do some kind of deal. You learn the notes properly
and I'll teach you how to heal.'

Taliesin holds out his hand and the two Skin Clock
s
meet in time -small
and large, cool and warm
.
The
s
orcerer makes his pact with his apprentice
.

A car pulls into the drive. Taliesin goes to the window
and sees the lady bent like a tree in the win
d
being helped from the car by a young man
holding out his elbow to stead
y
her. She is so stooped that a simple push would send her
tumbling head over heels. As she is led through to the sitting room, Billy
introduces Taliesin as hi
s
pupil.

'Taliesin is going to help me pray for you today
,
Mrs Willis. I was
going to start him off on a few cuts and scratches, just to see how he got on,
but I think your back could do with an extra hand
.
'
Mrs
Willis doe
sn't
seem to mind this
.
She is more concerned with herself.

'Oh
God, Mr Evans
,
I can't describe the pain
.
The doctor can't do anything for me. He just
keeps giving m
e
aspirin. I'll give you
anything if you could take the pain away
.
Do
y
ou think it'll be over with today, Mr
Evans. What do you think? I can't tell you how much my b
ack
hurts
.
If I take any
more painkillers ... agh!' She stops and looks at Taliesin, having to move her
whole body to look
.
'Just you wait, young
man, your turn will come. Ow, I do hope you can do something for me Mr Evans
.
I have to say I felt a little better after the
first session but it's got worse this last few days. Jean told me you were a
marvel. You should see her since she saw you right as rain
.
I think it's amazing what you
've
done. I was ever so sceptical when she told
me. Please don
't
tak
e
off
ence
at that Mr Evans, but I never
thought
.
. .
anyway,
I don't care what people say. If you can heal me Mr Evans I don
't
care how you do it. I am prepared to believe
anything
.
I'm open-minded
.
Jean thinks you're a marvel. And you do it all
for free
.
How long will it take, do
y
ou think?'

Mrs Will
is
is a chunterer; she seems to have a phobia for silences,
even the necessary silences between words. From the moment she enters the
house, escorted by her son (who says nothing), she is talking as if letting in
the quiet might show there's something wrong with the world.

'I think we'll need a few more sessions yet, Mrs Willis.
We'll have to see what God can do
.
Will you sit over here?'

'I think it's marvellous that you do it all for free. You
should start charging people, Mr Evans, you'd make a fortune, although I
suppose you don't want to do that, it wouldn't be right would it?'

'Right you are. '

Taliesin stands rather awkwardly in the corner of the
room. Mrs Willis doesn't seem to mind him being there. She sits in the chair in
front of the gas fire, her back curving forward from the chair, her old Skin
Clocks gathering in loose layers on the backs of her hands, already raised with
little time left to tick. Once she's in the chair her son excuses himself,
saying that he'll wait in the car.

'Right now, just relax, Mrs Willis,' Billy orders.

'Yes, yes. It's not easy to relax with this back, Mr
Evans.'

Taliesin watches Billy's hands spreading there on the old
lady's spine. They are spread out wide as if warming at a fire. 'So how is Mrs
Griffiths?' Billy asks, getting her to relax
.
'Oh, you've done wonders for her Mr Evans.
She's completely healed.'

'What are your first names again Mrs Willis?'

'Jane Megan.'

'Jane Megan. Jane Megan. Good. That's good. It helps me
to know, see
.
When I'm praying it helps to know the names.' 'I hope you can do
something for me Mr Evans. I need a miracle.'

With
three people the room is even more cramped and airless and an unlikely place
for a miracle. The healing is very matter of fact. There are no histrionic
chants, no theatrical
's Billy runs his warm hands
down the lady's back,
g
e
sture.
f
ollowing the buckled
camber of the spine, praying to himself His lips move slowly and Taliesin
catches a Jesus here and there. The lady relaxes to his touch. After five
minutes of quiet concentration Billy stops. He Slips easily from intense praye
r back to light chattering. He starts to talk about other
healings and Taliesin is all ears.

'I had a boy here last week, twelve years old, same age
as you, Taliesin. He couldn't even walk. His mother came with him and expected
me to fix her boy up in one go. She was desperate. 1 tried my best. As I said,
I never know when or why it works. You can never be sure when God is going to
help and when He isn't. I just have to believe that He's going to help me every
time.'

Billy motions to Taliesin. 'Put your hand here.'

Taliesin, hardly believing what he's doing, places his
hand on the lady's shoulder, uncertain of how much pressure to apply
.
She is bony, brittle
and cool.