The Testimony of Taliesin Jones (10 page)

The new teac
her
w
rites
th
e s
tatistics up
o
n
th
e
b
oard.
'
If I w
as ask
ing
thi
s
s
ame
question
to
a clas
s of
c
hildren
a
hundr
ed years
a
go, mos
t
o
f
yo
u w
ould
h
ave sa
id
that
yo
u di
d
b
elieve. A
nd
pe
rh
aps
in
a
hundred
ye
ars tim
e
fr
om
now
yo
u w
ould a
ll
say
yo
u d
idn't
believe.
It would b
e
f
ascinating
to see.'

'
I
th
ink I
g
ave
th
e
wron
g a
nswer,
Mis
s,'
Will
iam
J
ones say
s
.
'
Ca
n I
c
hange?'

'T
h
ere
i
s
n
o
ri
ght
and wr
ong
an
swer,'
th
e
n
ew teac
her
s
ays
.
'
Y
o
u
ca
n v
ote "
not
s
ure"
if
y
ou
w
ant.'

T
a
lie
s
in finds
it disconcerting that he is in the minority. Th
e
e
x
istence of God is not something he has
questioned. God has always been there since the beginning of the spiral in hi
s
atlas, long before people were around to vote as
to whether God existed or not. Even now as he thinks about it he ha
s
a sense of God watching
.
He sees a pair of hands
c
oming out of
clouds; protecting, reprimanding, encompa
s
sing.
The hands are mighty but strangely specific and human
,
with lines and marks. They are parting clouds and letting beams of light
through. Don't the others see the same? He thought they did.

Co
nfident th
at s
he
h
as wo
n the cl
ass
over, th
e
n
ew
t
eacher co
ntinues
to
pu
sh
th
e c
hildren int
o
thinkin
g a
bout
w
hy
t
hey
vo
ted th
e way
th
ey vote
d.

'You
could say that RE is finding out wh
e
re our
beli
e
fs come from. Why, for instance, did
some of you say you
b
elieved
in
Go
d
a
nd
o
thers n
ot?'
s
he
says
.

T
hey
o
nly b
elieve
b
ecause
th
eir
parent
s
d
o,'
H
ooper says
.

'Rubbi
sh.
I m
ade
up m
y ow
n mind
,
t
werp
;
'
Jul
ie
D
yer g
lowers.

Lu
c
D
aniel
h
as
hi
s
h
and
up
. '
My par
ents do
n't b
el
ieve i
n
Go
d
.
Th
ey say
h
e
'
s
m
ade
up
,'
h
e says.

'They
might be right,' the teacher says
.

'Why
don't you believe?' she asks Hooper, 'is it because of your parents?'

'I'm
not believing in something I can't see,' Hooper says
.
When it comes to Taliesin to answer his thoughts blur and he is unable
to
a
rticulate his feelings. He cannot
account for his belief and its ori
gi
ns.

'
I ju
st do
,'
i
s
a
ll h
e can
mu
ster.
Th
is
dr
aws a
r
ippin
g
,
d
erisory
l
augh f
rom H
ooper.

'T
hat's n
o a
nswer!
'
h
e
r
oar
s
.

Taliesin
knows that it is no answer but his mind fail
s
him,
offering only vague suggestions which even in his h
e
ad
sound feeble. He feels protective towards the God he believes in and yet he doesn't
know why. His loyalty certainly doesn't come from his parents. His mother used
to go to chapel and sing. She liked to sing
.
But
that was years ago
.
His father has always
said he didn't need to believe. He believed what he wanted to believe
.
It was an aunt who gave him the
Illu
st
rated Bible,
not his parents
.
He still says the same prayer that he said in
primary school: Lord keep us safe this night secure from all our fears, may
angels guard us while we
s
leep 'til morning light
appears, Amen. He's continued to whisper the prayer to himself every evening,
believing it to be received and acknowledged.

Julie
Dyer and Hooper have started to argue. There is a great power struggle going on
between them. Neither of them wants to concede anything to the other; too much
is at
s
take
.

Th
e
r
est of t
he
cl
ass a
ll want to s
ay
wh
y t
hey d
o
o
r d
on't
b
elieve
a
nd thi
s
c
auses
th
e
noise l
evel
to ri
se
furth
er.
M
ean
whil
e
,
T
aliesin c
ontemplates
a
n
ew
qu
estion.
Hi
s
mind
is a
m
aelstrom
of
divin
e
polemi
c
and it hu
rts
hi
s
h
ead
.
In m
o
m
ents of
un
certainty
he
u
sually
r
etreats
t
o
th
e sa
fe
h
aven o
f hi
s
im
agination, a
pl
ace
wh
ere
he i
s
m
aster of
hi
s
th
oughts a
nd beli
efs; a
r
ealm
wh
ere
h
e
is
e
mperor
o
f eloqu
ence.
Bu
t e
ven th
ere
h
e ca
nnot
e
scape
th
e
v
ast
curlin
g of a
qu
estion
th
at
h
e
n
ever
th
ought
h
e'd
hav
e
to
a
sk.

During
lunch break Taliesin takes his satchel to The Tall Tree in the corner of the
playing field
.
The tree is an expansive
thick-girthed oak, set apart from the grass on a bank which i
s
raised up. It provides an unbroken view of the
whole
s
chool. The leaves of The Tall Tree
are a crisp brown and in the sunlight they appear to glow like fire
.
The tree'
s
bark
is covered in graffiti of mixed art and wisdom. These carvings give a potted
history of the school's loves and hates
:
John
4 Juliet; Phil" for me; Piss up a tree
;
Caesar
eats Pizza.
 
M
aybe
in
a
f
ew
ye
ars tim
e,
T
aliesin
will b
e carv
ing
i
n h
is
n
ame
n
e
xt to so
meone el
se's
.
F
or
n
ow
h
e's
h
appy
t
o
b
e si
ngle.

H
e takes t
he C
ox's
from
hi
s
ba
g
and
s
hines th
e s
kin
o
n h
is j
umper.
H
e
w
hispers
th
e g
reengrocer's
a
phorism
t
o
h
imself: '
Have
a
n
a
pple;
go
t
o c
hapel.'
It h
as a
n
atural
rh
ythm a
nd rh
yme;
th
e firs
t l
ine
l
eading
in
evitably
t
o the secon
d
.
H
e t
urns th
e
p
hrase
ove
r in h
is
h
ead a
nd
eve
ntually
says
i
t o
ut l
oud. '
Have
an a
pple;
go
t
o c
hapel.' It
's
l
ike a
p
iece of advice
a g
randmother
wo
uld
give
-it
's o
ld
a
nd it
's w
ise
a
nd
it's do
tty
.
H
e
und
erstands t
he fir
st
p
art;
th
e seco
nd
h
owever
,
m
akes
l
ittle se
nse.
C
hapel i
s a s
trange
pl
ace
th
at exis
ts
f
or
r
easons
h
e
h
asn't
qu
estioned.

T
aliesin t
hinks
o
f E
ve aga
in
a
nd tri
es
to put him
self
in h
er
n
aked so
les. Wh
at i
f
Go
d h
adn't s
aid an
ything a
bout n
ot ea
ting th
e a
pple? H
e sees
Ev
e
mo
ving
about th
e Ga
rden
O
f Ed
en
fillin
g a
b
asket
with
a
pples and th
en ea
ting th
em
until
s
he m
akes
h
erself s
ick
.
Th
e
E
ve
in his h
ead
is d
efinitely
h
is
m
other
n
ow.

Runnin
g
f
eet co
me. It
's
Lu
c
Daniel, pantin
g
fr
om
runn
ing
f
or
n
o
r
eason
.
H
is
blu
e,
A
ertex s
hirt is han
ging
out: Lu
c T
he Shirt
. Ta
liesin pr
e-empts
hi
s f
riend by offerin
g
h
im a
bi
te o
f th
e Cox's. T
hey
s
it
i
n
si
lence f
or sev
eral minut
es
,
s
haring th
e a
pple. Wh
en
th
ey fi
nally
s
peak it i
s
e
vident
th
at t
hey're thinkin
g a
bout th
e
s
a
m
e
thin
g.