The Testimony of Taliesin Jones (62 page)

'
It won't b
e
a
ve
ry big gang,' John
Mor
gan
point
s
out.
'
We'd h
ave
to prove that God
exi
sts t
o get
m
ore
p
eople,'

Taliesin
sa
ys.
'
We could tr
y
the
a
pple on th
e
h
ead,'
Lu
c s
ays.

'
That d
idn't
r
eally
prov
e a
nything
.
We
'd
h
ave
to d
o s
omethin
g
mor
e
obvious
.
We'd have to pray f
or
som
eone
to
ge
t h
ealed
of
a
n illne
ss
or som
ething. So
meone h
ere
at
sc
hool.'

'
We
c
an't do that, can w
e?'
John M
organ as
ks.

'Anyon
e
c
an
do it
.'
T
aliesin
tri
es
to make him
self
into B
illy,
thinking hi
s
thou
ghts, say
ing hi
s
sa
yings, egg
ing him
self o
n
w
ith th
e
h
ealer's
im
age
in hi
s
mind.

'
I th
ought y
ou h
ad
to b
e a
p
reacher
t
o
pr
ay fo
r p
eople,'
J
ohn
Mor
gan g
oes
o
n
.

'
Anyone
ca
n pra
y
t
o
G
od
.
Y
ou
d
on't
n
eed a
ny qu
alifica
ti
ons,'
T
aliesin s
ays.

'Th
e
M
agic
Thr
ee,'
Luc
s
ays
.

'N
o
numb
ers
.
Ev
eryone ca
lls th
emselves
th
e
"
Something
F
our" o
r th
e
"Som
ething
S
even".
I'v
e
th
ought
of th
e
n
ame:
Th
e
Beli
evers
.
'

'Y
eah,
Th
e
Belie
vers.
I like that
,'
Luc
s
ays
.

'Wh
o's go
t
s
omething
w
rong with th
em
th
at
w
e
could try
?'
J
ohn
M
organ a
sks, putting hi
s
book do
wn.

'W
e co
uld tr
y
William Jon
es;
h
e's
a di
abetic,'
Lu
c
s
ays
.
'Th
ey say
h
e'll
have it for th
e
rest of hi
s
lif
e.'

T
aliesin fee
ls the l
eadership
of this new
g
ang fall
ing
to him with
out
di
spute
-no dual with
s
pears
in front of fir
es
i
s
ne
cessary.
H
e
is,
a
fter all, th
e
on
e
who beli
eved
fir
st
:
Lu
c
n
eeded
pr
oof
befor
e
he'd believe and John Mor
gan
w
as a
lways d
oubtful
about the
wa
rts.
If h
is
l
eadership
i
s
to w
ork
h
e w
ill ne
ed
t
o
la
y
down
th
e
rules in
s
tone
or bark
.
And they h
ave
t
o
b
e a
nswerable
to
so
mething:
a
c
ode,
a
hi
gher
authorit
y,
b
eyond
ju
st
him. Lik
e
th
e
bo
ys o
n
th
at
i
sland,
th
ey
n
eed
th
eir co
nch shell
.
Taliesin
take
s
out hi
s
Bibl
e
fr
om
hi
s
s
atchel.

'
Everyone s
hould have
a
Bibl
e, a
lthough it
's
ok
ay
if you
haven't read it. I've only read some parts. We should
learn the first line and have it as a kind of code. We can meet under The Tall
Tree twice a week during lunch and heal someone by laying hands on them. People
with divorced parents will be given special entry, providing that they believe
.
'

'Shouldn't we start with something easier than diabetics?
Shouldn't we start with flu, or something? Or maybe someone has got a wart we
could try,' John Morgan says.

'A wart isn't big enough
.
It isn't a big deal any more,' Luc says
.
Luc wants the
showcase healing -the throw-down your-crutches-and-walk healing.

'What is diabetic anyway?
'
Taliesin asks, wondering about the number of
sessions required for such an illness
.

'You
have to inject yourself every day, otherwise you die,' John Morgan says.

'So we could pray for that then,' Luc says.

'Only if he wants us to. You can't heal people unless
they want you to,' Taliesin says.

Just then, Julie Dyer approaches. She has a packet of
barely disguised cigarettes pushed down her jumper.

'What are you lot doin'?'

Taliesin feels his confidence evaporate at the sight of
the contemptuous temptress Julie Dyer.

'We've formed a gang,' Luc says.

Julie says nothing as she takes the packet of cigarettes
from her jumper. 'We're healin' the sick,' Luc goes on
.
'Tal knows how to do
it. He had his warts healed
.'

Julie looks up at this. She lifts her eyes seeking
verification. Taliesin holds out his hands. Julie says nothing but her silence
says she's impressed. She then runs a vermilion nail along the skin where the
warts would have been
.

'Shall we let her join?' Luc presses.

'I don't want to be in any gang,' she winces.

'It's okay,' Taliesin says.

'I
can touch you now,' she says. She then turns, barely acknowledging the presence
of the other two boys
,
and heads for the
bank to smoke.

Having sworn (with hands placed on the book) to a belief
in God and to memorize the first line of the Bible, The Believers, as they have
now agreed to be known, move tentatively to the edge of the football pitch
where the diabetic is playing.

William Jones is different from other boys; he is well-built
for his age and he's a novelty because he has to inject himself with a substance
called insulin every day
.
The responsibility of his illness has given him a mature
outlook, making him take things in his stride
.
For someone who is supposedly ill, he looks
fit and fast.

'He looks all right to me,' John Morgan says
.
'Yeah, but only
because of the injections,' Luc reminds him. They wait for the game to finish
and Taliesin steps forward to speak
.

'Hi,' he says, feeling foolish.

'Hi,' William Jones says.

Taliesin finds that he is a reluctant spokesman for his
new sect. John Morgan is right. William Jones looks fine; he played football as
well as the others and could beat any of them in a sprint. He's probably quite
happy being a diabetic. Luc speaks, keen to get things started.

'Hey, Will, do you wanna join our group? We've just
formed a new gang
:
The Believers.'

'Okay,' the diabetic says, with undisguised indifference.

'Yeah.
But you have to do something before you join. You have to answer some questions.
Tal, shall we ask him now?' Taliesin nods
.
'You
have to believe in God first. Do you believe?' Luc asks.

'I
suppose so,' William Jones replies.

'No,
you have to really believe,' Luc insists.

'I do, I suppose.'

'Okay. Next you have to believe that, by praying, God
heals people when they're sick, or when they've got warts, or even if they've
got diabetes. I know that sounds difficult but we want to see if God can heal
your diabetes so you won't have to inject yourself
.
Imagine that Will,'
Luc says
.

'How are you going to do that?' William Jones asks.

'By laying hands on you and praying.'

William Jones looks at them all and shrugs.

'You can try if you like,' he says
.

'Let's go to the tree.' Taliesin says, wary of others
looking on
.
Their
first foray into healing can't be seen to fail.

Under the tree Taliesin tells William Jones to close his
eyes. He then asks the group to stand behind the trunk
,
out of view.
Self-consciously, they place their hands on the boy
.

Taliesin takes another look around the field to see if anyone
is watching. John Morgan starts to laugh
.

 
'C'mon John
,
we've got to concentrate or it won't work,' Luc
remonstrates.

'Sorry
.
I can't help it,' John says
.

'Have you got a middle name?' Taliesin asks, trying to
parrot every element of Billy's practice.

'Gerald.'

Taliesin
remembers the words that Billy repeated when he healed Mrs Willis
.
'In the name of Jesus I pray for this person
-William Gerald -to be healed.' If there is power in the words then it is just
as well because he feels little confidence in them himself. He keeps his eyes
open as he says them and looks at the others, wondering if, like him, they are
struggling with this strange rigmarole. Luc's eyes are screwed tight, John
Morgan's are half open, William Jones has his peacefully closed. For a while no
one says anything
.
They keep their hands
spread on William Jones's back and shoulders and in the act an unprompted
reverence comes upon them. They are silent out of respect for something that
none of them quite
understands. After a minute the
oddness that they felt before seems to pass and Taliesin feels that this is a
right and meet thing so to do
.
'Amen
,'
he says.