The Testimony of Taliesin Jones (60 page)

T
hen
co
me th
e
f
airy
tal
es,
ghost
s
tories
,
s
tories
a
bout
a
nimals,
a
dventure, scienc
e
fiction
a
nd w
ar.
Th
ese a
re th
e
b
ooks
th
at
kindl
ed
hi
s
da
ydreams a
nd
ex
panded th
e
r
ealms o
f p
ossibility
.
Th
ese
book
s a
sked him t
o
beli
eve
in th
ings:
in t
alking a
nts
a
nd bees that worri
ed a
bout th
eir
w
ardrobe;
in w
ardrobes
th
at
lead children to
oth
er
world
s;
in w
orlds
wh
ere c
hildren
a
lways worked it out
in th
e e
nd;
r
abbits
that
w
ore
trou
sers;
h
edgehogs
th
at
danc
ed; ca
ts in boot
s a
nd c
ats
in hat
s a
nd h
ats o
n rabbit
s
and girls th
at
shr
ank
.

The b
ooks
th
at
he now r
eads
ha
ve
no pi
ctures a
nd
so
ft
cove
rs
.
H
e
h
as
hijacked mo
st
of them fr
om
h
is
f
ather's s
hel
ves.
Th
ey
d
on
't
h
ave
fanc
y
pictur
es
t
o
lur
e
him
i
n, ju
st a s
imple
s
ketch
a
nd ma
ybe s
omething on th
e
b
ack cove
r
a
bout h
ow goo
d the book is.
These books are full of w
ords w
hich J
onathan
tr
ies
t
o
use
.
Word
s
like gullibl
e,
imm
ature a
nd juv
enile.

H
e
t
akes
a thin
book with
a
n or
ange
spine and looks at th
e co
ver
.
It i
s
bl
ank a
nd the title uninteresting
.
H
e g
ives it
the first line te
st,
a lit
erary
litmus for readin
g
furth
er.
This i
s
unimpr
essive
.
The next book also has no pi
cture
on th
e
front
but th
e
name
so
unds
familiar. It's call
ed
B
righton
R
ock
b
y so
meone
ca
lled
Graham Gre
ene.
The fir
st
lin
e
hook
s
him imm
ediately:
'H
ale
knew
,
before
he had b
een
in Bri
ghton
thr
ee
hours
,
that the
y
meant to murder him
.'
Who
c
ould
not w
ant
to know what fate awaits Hale? Hale
do
esn't
mak
e
it
t
o
th
e sec
ond
chapter, although Taliesin isn't entirel
y s
ure
a
bout thi
s
and
has to read the last part again to m
ake ce
rtain.
The
author doesn't make it so obvious. Taliesin has
to concentrate hard, r
e-read
a lot of
se
ntences and negotiate some tricky words, tryin
g
to gues
s a
t their meaning.
His illustrated dictionar
y's
vocabularly falls short of Mr Greene
's
for sure
.
Covetous could b
e so
mething to do with
covering.
En
bross
e
look
s
lik
e
French
.
Th
ese
difficulties don't
matter. H
e a
ppreci
ates
the gist, and it
i
s
th
e g
ist that makes him
read on
.
He's
alway
s
had
the knack of
ge
tting the essence of something without fully under
standing
it
.
And he finds th
at
the meanin
g
i
s
alw
ays
r
evealed
not lon
g a
fterwards. It
's
th
e
same with words
:
h
e
h
ears
on
e
that h
e's
never heard before
,
then
a
ll of a
s
udden th
e
word i
s o
n
eve
ry lip
a
nd on ever
y
oth
er
pa
ge
and h
e
wonder
s
how h
e e
ver mana
ged
without it
.

This tale moves on
e
ffortlessly, pulling its reader with it. Talie
sin
can hear the
heaving crowd on the b
each
at Brighton
,
he can even f
eel
the shimmer of Mr Gre
ene's
sun inst
ead
of the shiv
er
of th
e
h
ere
and
now
winter. This power is a fant
astic
thing in his
hand
s;
a
power of transportation as dir
ect
as th
e
train from We
st
H
aven
to Prescelli; the pow
er
to tak
e
him to
a
diff
erent
pl
ace,
anoth
er
se
ason
,
to
s
omewhere that se
ems
as real
as
wher
e
h
e
now is.

After
a
tim
e
he
tires of r
eading
and the book lose
s
it
s
hold over
him. He finds his mind drifting back into his own world. Book
s,
so lon
g
his
protection and escape, no longer provid
e
the
only excitement in hi
s
life
.
Sin
ce
that
day early in September, when the sun was lazing around and the new teacher
asked them to rai
se
their hands if they beli
eved
in God
,
a
c
hange has taken place in his life
.
The potential
a
nd
po
ssibility
that book
s
conjur
e
and weav
e
is attainable in his own lif
e
.
His own life
h
as
t
aken
on
a meaning that hitherto onl
y c
haracters in
well-structured books seemed to possess. He too can look for th
e s
ignificance in things; he too can unc
over
th
e
fantastic;
he too can go down to the dark, grey greasy banks of the Limpopo riv
er
and dip his nose into its murky waters
.
The ma
gic
he
has encountered compares
fav
ourably
w
ith the magic he ha
s
found in book
s.
Doin
g
i
s
m
ore e
njoyable th
an
spectating. H
e
do
esn't
hav
e
t
o see
k m
agic
in b
ooks, o
r live vicariou
sly
th
e
liv
es
of th
eir c
har
ac
ters. Th
ese
thin
gs
he can experien
ce
for him
self.
H
e ca
n
e
njoy h
is ow
n journey, form his own
ga
ng, find hi
s o
wn w
onder.

H
e'd
l
ike
t
o
f
orm
his own
g
ang
.
Wh
en
h
e
r
ead a
bout th
e
Fli
es a
nd th
eir s
piral into evil he w
anted
to b
e
th
ere
with th
em,
t
o o
ff
e
r
a
n
a
lternative wa
y
.
H
e
w
ould
ha
ve
f
ormed
a
ga
ng
o
f b
elievers a
nd
s
hown th
em
a wa
y
out
.
H
e ca
n
s
till d
o t
his
.
Th
e g
a
ng's purp
ose
would be simpl
e:
th
ey'd
pr
ay
f
or
p
eople
b
y
l
aying
h
ands o
n them
.
Of cour
se,
th
ey w
ould n
eed ce
rtain rul
es
:
e
ntrance would depend on th
e
bel
ief
of th
e a
pplicant. K
ids w
hose p
arents
were di
vorced
would b
e s
hown
s
pecial pr
eference
.
As a sign of int
ent
th
ey c
ould l
earn
th
e
fir
st
lin
e o
f th
e
Bibl
e
.
They could m
eet
b
eneath
Th
e
T
all
Tr
ee a
nd
s
tart wi
th s
mall
s
tuff: colds, head-a
ches,
eve
n w
arts.
Wh
en
th
ey'd cr
acked the minor dise
ases
th
ey c
ould m
ove o
nto th
e
h
eavier
thin
gs
.