The Testimony of Taliesin Jones (64 page)

T
aliesin
h
as wo
rds t
o
hurt H
oop,
words th
at wo
uld
s
ting
a
nd s
cratch
him
,
p
ebbles
h
e c
ould
s
ling at th
e g
iant's t
emple a
nd f
ell
h
im.
But h
ere
in th
e
pla
yground
(a bad des
cription
if
e
ver th
ere
w
as) s
ticks
a
nd
s
tones h
ave
domini
on ove
r
wo
rds. H
ere,
mi
ght
i
s
r
ight.

'
He
co
uld h
ave
kill
ed yo
u, y
ou k
now,' Luc
says
.
'
If
yo
u hit s
omeone
in th
e
r
ight
pl
ace o
n
t
heir n
ose
the bon
e ca
n
s
hoot into th
eir
br
ain.
Your n
ose
i
s
bl
eeding,
look.
'

'H
ere
u
se
thi
s,'
John M
organ sa
ys, handin
g
Tali
esin so
me ti
ssue. '
Look up
:
It
's
m
eant to s
top th
e
ble
eding
.
' '
Maybe
we s
hould pr
a
y
fo
r it
,
'
Lu
c sa
y
s,
s
till
i
mpressively k
een.

S
ome of
th
e
bl
ood
h
as
dr
ipped o
nto T
aliesin's
l
ip a
nd h
e
li
cks away i
ts
me
tallic t
a
st
e
.
Wh
ere
i
s
God n
ow?
G
oliath
h
as
w
alked away
t
all a
nd fr
ee. Ta
liesin looks up
i
nto
T
he T
all T
ree t
o s
tem th
e
fl
ow of
bl
ood
.
And then h
e
l
ooks pas
t th
e
br
anches a
t th
e
blu
e
b
eyond w
h
e
re
G
od
is wa
tching
wi
thout b
eing
dr
awn
int
o
th
e fig
ht
.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

ON
E DA
Y
,
hi
s
mother
ca
lls.

'I'
ve go
t s
omething
to t
ell yo
u, T
aliesin
.'

It mu
st
b
e serio
us be
cause s
he u
ses
hi
s f
ull n
ame. T
he lin
e is ve
ry cl
ear
thi
s
t
ime,
cle
ar e
nough f
or
h
er
t
o
b
e i
n the n
ext
r
oom. '
Your
fa
ther
a
nd I
a
re
g
oin
g
to
b
e ge
tting
a
di
vorce,' s
he
sa
ys
.
'I'm
goi
ng to m
arry
T
oni
.
'
It
's
h
ard
t
o
kn
ow w
hat t
o s
ay.
Ta
liesin's
fa
ther
is o
nly
a
f
ew
f
eet away
.

'
When?' It'
s i
rrelevant but h
e as
ks th
is a
ll th
e same.

'
Oh,
th
at
d
epends.
T
ally,
I w
anted
y
ou
t
o
kn
ow
th
at
I
s
till l
ove yo
u. I h
ope y
ou und
erstand
th
at.'

'S
ure.'

'I'd b
etter s
peak to
y
our f
ather.
I'm
c
oming
ove
r
soo
n, t
o co
llect t
he
furniture
.
W
e
c
an
t
alk
th
en,
D
arling
.
L
ots of
l
ove.'
H
e
h
ands
the phon
e
to hi
s
f
ather. Ta
liesin's m
other
d
oes
m
ost o
f th
e
talkin
g.
Wh
en
T
aliesin's f
ather h
as
fini
shed s
peaking h
e
put
s
the h
andset
d
own
and
c
radles th
e
wh
ole
t
elephone
up b
y
his armp
it
.
Th
en
h
e
hurls it
a
t th
e
dr
esser a
nd
s
mashes
a
r
ow o
f plat
es,
several
sa
ucers, mu
gs a
nd
a
W
edg
w
ood g
ravy b
oat.
He looks m
agnificent
as
he wr
enches
th
e
ph
one fro
m th
e
wall
,
turnin
g
and thr
owing
it in on
e
flu
id
m
ovement.
Th
e
phone lands plumb middl
e
a
nd kno
cks
th
e
plat
es a
nd
sa
ucers from th
eir
pr
etty
pl
ace
o
f
prid
e.
Th
e g
ravy b
oat was o
ne
o
f th
e
thin
gs
his m
other
int
ended
to
co
llect.

Aft
er
th
is a
thletic d
estruction
hi
s
f
ather
b
ends
d
own a
nd imm
ediately
a
pologizes f
or
wh
at
h
e's
don
e
.
H
e c
uts
a s
orry
figure on his knees, picking up the pieces of shattered
china and porcelain. Taliesin joins him on the floor amazed at how far and wide
some of the bits have flown
.
One of the plates has cracked neatly in three places and
is repairable. All the others are smithereened beyond repair. Not all the
king's horses and all the king's men could put them back together again.

His father has cut himself
.
His father has thick fingers, designed for
wrapping around things, wrenching, pulling and cutting, not for the
tweezer-like picking of small fragments of china from floors. Taliesin picks up
the splinters, managing not to cut himself. Meanwhile some blood trickles from
his father's cuts into the delta of his hands. A drop stains one of the yellow
plastic squares of the kitchen floor. He holds out his palms and looks at them
impressed that the needle slithers have cut him this deep. He holds out his
hands in supplication
.

'I'm sorry about this,' he says
.

Taliesin fetches some toilet paper and presses it into
his father's hands. The blood comes out tre
acle
brown in places, turning the tissue the same
colour. Some of the blood stains the cuff of Taliesin's shirt
.
Strange to think
that he came from this blood and that his mother has now caused it to spill.
Although his father doesn't like sympathy he lets his son hold the tissue there
for a few seconds and tries a smile of reassurance, as if to say that this
plate-smashing fury is just one of those things.

'Don't think that I hate your mother,' he says. 'I don't
want you to think that I hate her.'

'I know,' Taliesin says, unable to fully believe him.

'This
furniture business is beyond the pale. I've had it up to here with furniture,'
he says
.
He draws his hand across his neck
to indicate where he's had it up to
.

'And
now she wants to marry him. I suppose it'll be one less Jones in Wales if she
does. You won't have the same
name as her anymore,'
his father says. 'You do realize that? Not even a name will connect you.'