The Testimony of Taliesin Jones (66 page)

And
j
ust then Tal
iesin
s
ees that Bill
y
i
s
far mor
e
unw
ell
th
an
h
e's
l
etting
on
.
His onc
e
rudd
y c
omplexion i
s sa
llow
a
nd lin
ed fro
m
lo
ss
of weight, the e
xtra s
kin coll
ecting
in
crows f
eet.
Ther
e
are more than two crow
s
ther
e
now circling hi
s
sockets, pulling out from concentric circles of age. He
keeps clutching his chest and this talk of the spring is unlike him. It's out
of character for Billy to talk of things to come. He has always lived in the
present and stressed the importance of the now and not the then.

In Biology they drew pencil diagrams and cross-sections
of trees dying and coming back to life. But there is no equivalent winter sleep
for a man. If Billy was a tree he'd be in his last year and the final circle of
age would be drawn. Taliesin cannot imagine him budding again in the spring
.
His biology book has
a see-through man on the front cover, made up of veins and nerves and arteries
all spreading from a central canal running the length of his body. The textbook
showed how it all worked but it didn't show what happened when things went
wrong. It showed things arranged in perfect symmetry, functioning healthily; doing
what they were meant to do so that children would understand. There was no
diagram showing what happens when things didn't work, when blood thickens,
muscles atrophy, nerves fade and bones crumble. These things are happening now
to Billy and the healer is unable to heal himself.

Billy reads Taliesin's thoughts.

'I have been ill for a bit now. I have to have my share.'
Billy tries to laugh but he can't conceal a wince of pain or stop his hand
clutching his chest.

A conspiracy of darkness is shadowing him, pressing in,
making his trust in prayer and God seem folly. Where's his faith? It seemed to
be part of him, like a limb. Where is it now?

'I told my friends about you. I told them about prayer.
But I shouldn't,' Taliesin says
.

Billy blinks slowly, looking hard into the boy's
thoughts.

'You
have a gift. Don't be afraid to show it. Faith is a gift wrapped in many layers
of beautiful paper. People see the paper and its beauty makes them want to get
to what's inside.
The gift must be special to be
wrapped so. They will get a desire for the gift themselves. '

Billy
stops to draw breath. He clutches the side of the chair.

'God
has His hand over you. He's protected you from the things happening in your
life. He's made you stron
g
when
your parents have been weak
.
He's given you that strength
.

You must continue to forgive them. They need healing too
.

They
have their warts. You must pray that God will help them
.
Don't wait for time to heal. Time isn't a great healer
whoever said that hasn't lived. Time is time
-
it does nothin
g
.
It's God that does the healing.

'Straightening
spines and giving sight to the blind is the easy part
.
It's healing the things you can't see that
's
tricky
.
I
healed
yo
ur w
arts
but there
's
other things goin
g
on inside
.
you that
y
ou need healing from,
other scars.
'

That
pressur
e
pushing against the dam he'
s
built is forcing more cracks to appear, allowing
small trickles to break
through
.

'Wh
at
do
y
ou feel?
'
Billy asks
.

'I can't think. My head is all heavy,' Taliesin says.

Bill
y
walks over to him, his joints clicking
.

'You
still need healing yourself. The trick is showing the things inside to God
.
Just as you showed me your hands so
that I could heal your warts
,
you need to show me
what's inside
.
You mu
st
give it to God, only He can deal with it.
God h
as
protected you from feeling pain
.
H
e
has been
gracious -He knows, better than you, what you need to be healed from
.
But if you keep it to yourself H
e
can
't
help
you. If
y
ou bottle an emotion it will
ferment and turn to poison, and eventually it will make you sick. Close your
eyes and picture everything that comes into your mind and
give it to God
:
that's it, that's right, let it come, let it all come out
.
..
'

The
cracks spread out and the dam begins to burst
.

H
e
i
s
on
a
b
each wa
lking b
ehind
hi
s
m
other a
nd
fa
ther. H
e i
s l
ooking
d
own a
t th
eir
f
ootprints.
H
is
moth
er's
siz
e
fours
a
nd h
is
f
ather's size
t
ens are
to
o
f
ar
apart
f
rom
eac
h
o
ther f
or
him t
o s
tep in both
t
heir f
ootsteps
in th
e s
and. The
y a
re cl
ose
to th
e sea
b
ecause
th
e sa
nd i
s s
ofter
a
nd
g
rainier
a
nd it
s
inks und
er
th
eir s
low, tr
oubled
tr
ead.
Hi
s
p
arents
ar
e
mumblin
g
but h
e c
an't h
ear
wh
at
th
ey s
ay; h
e c
an only d
etect
a d
esperate
pl
eading
.
H
e
tri
es
t
o
put h
is
ri
ght
le
g i
n hi
s
fath
er's
print
s a
nd hi
s
l
eft
int
o
hi
s
m
other's
but th
ey a
re not clo
se
en
ough
-h
e wo
uld h
ave to
d
o
th
e s
plits t
o
tr
ead
in th
em
b
oth.
H
e s
tarts t
o
tr
ead o
nly
i
n hi
s fat
her's
s
teps, h
is
pr
ints swa
llowed b
y
th
e size o
f th
em
.
H
is
m
other's
print
s
di
verge
and
a
rc a
way.
Th
en
h
e s
prints
a
head
of
th
em ca
lling
o
ut,
'
Look
at
m
e!'
H
e
d
oes a
d
ance
th
at
h
e ca
n't h
ave eve
r don
e
b
efore; a
d
ance
full
o
f in
appropriate
h
ope.
H
is
p
arents
l
ook
up, un
impressed
,
t
oo
lo
st i
n th
eir o
wn
arg
ument to
see.
Th
ey
ha
ve
th
ings o
n th
eir
m
inds
.
H
e
turn
s a
nd run
s
to
wards
th
e sea
.

M
ore
pi
ctures co
me,
a
m
edley o
f m
emories
blurr
ing
int
o eac
h
o
ther
a
nd
inte
rlinking. H
e
f
eels
the t
ears s
pringing up
f
rom
somew
here oth
er
th
an
h
is eyes, c
o
rning fr
om so
me
w
here d
eep
do
wn
in
side
him
self,
c
ascading
thr
ough
th
e
d
am
h
e's
bu
ilt.
Th
ey kee
p
com
ing, fl
owing to
th
e
mu
sic of Bi
lly's di
stant
l
allation.
'
..
.
H
eal
th
is
b
oy .
.
.
heal thi
s
b
oy
.
'

Th
e
pr
otective
h
ands; t
he h
ealing
h
ands; t
he
a
dmonishing h
ands;
th
e ca
ressing h
ands are
ab
out
hi
s
f
ace.
Th
ese a
re
t
he
s
ame h
ands
th
at
bur
st
thr
ough
the cl
ouds.
H
e c
ontinues
to so
b, hi
s w
hole b
ody
j
erking w
ith th
e e
ffort,
s
haking
w
ith th
e
f
orce.
Bill
y
pr
ays o
n, h
is
h
and a
littl
e c
old
o
n T
aliesin's
h
ot c
heek. Th
is
t
ouch
r
eminds
him
of
his moth
er stroking
hi
s
f
ace w
ith h
er soft
ti
ckly
h
and,
bru
shing
b
ack
h
is fo
relock
over a
nd
ove
r
agai
n in
an e
ffort t
o se
nd him t
o s
leep.