The Testimony of Taliesin Jones (7 page)

Hi
s
l
imbs a
re
a
t lea
st
in
proporti
on an
d hi
s
f
eatures a
re
fi
ne.
P
eople s
ay h
e
ha
s
his fath
er's e
yes
a
nd hi
s
m
other's
h
air a
nd
n
ose,
but h
e
pr
efers
to think o
f
th
em as
h
is
o
wn
.
Hi
s eyes a
re w
ide a
nd
tear sh
aped.
His hair is th
ick a
nd st
raight a
nd
ruffl
ed
frequently
by the tall and the old. His skin is fair enough to freckle but dark enough to
turn a light copper in an Indian Summer. A chipped front incisor has made him
self-conscious about smiling and nervous of over zealous playground games. It
is partly for this reason that he has an unfair reputation for being a loner at
school, where he is only reasonably popular and known as 'Worm'
.

'Worm' is a term of endearment or derogation depending on
who says it and how they say it. His enemies call him 'Worm' to remind him of
his
.
diminutive
build; his friends call him 'Worm' in reference to his love of books and inces
s
ant reading of them.
He is a copious reader, burying himself in stories
,
burrowing deep into
their other worlds and losing himself there
.
Thi
s
a source of great irritation to his teachers
.
The glass-fronted
cabinet in the corner of the form room already contains the first confiscation
of the year -
Animal Farm,
impounded by his form teacher, Mr Davies. Mr
Davies has promised to return it in time for the holiday, 'When there will be
plenty of time for reading.' But ten weeks is too long to wait and see what
happens to that
horse, Boxer, so he has borrowed another copy of the book and this sits in the
side pocket of his satchel, ready for the journey home
.

There
is a third meaning in his nickname, although few have appreciated it
.
Like a worm, Taliesin likes to get into the core
of things -through a slow and persistent questioning. Questions are sweet
apples to be eaten and this worm has a taste for all kinds
.
He questioned from an early age, maybe as early
as two or three, pointing at an object and saying,
'
Called?
What called?' His parents were always happy to humour this hunger and provide
the appropriate name: piano, potato, perfume. It seemed they had a word for
everything he could point at. Then he discovered books with pictures and labels
and names for all kinds of things, and for a time they provided all the
answers. Then, quite suddenly,
and without being
asked, he found himself in rooms with other children listening to Grown-Ups who
asked him questions. He was good at giving answers but he found it less
rewarding than asking questions. His teachers noticed this and comm
ented,
'If you spent
more time listening you might not have to ask so many questions,' or 'Too many
que
stions,
not
enough answers, boy.' Like Mr Kipling's
'
Elephant Child' (a story for which he has developed a
deep affinity) he was looking to get his nose bitten
.
He too, it seemed,
suff
ered
from
insatiable curiosity.

Talie
sin
wasn't entirely happy with the role reversal
that
s
chool imposed. It didn't seem fair
that Grown-Ups, who theoretically had answers in the truck load, were now
asking him for answers. He needed to ask more questions still, not be
cause
he wanted to distract, avoid or gain
attention, but simply because there were so many questions to be asked thou
sands
of them in fact, all queuing up, knocking on
the door of his mind, demanding answers
.
It
didn't matter whether they were answered by book, teacher or father, for just
as
s
oon as the curling head of a question
was cut off another app
eared
in its place,
like some overcurious Hydra.

Oddly
his parents, his teachers, even his books, didn
't
have
the answers to all of his questions. They always tried to give him one, rather
than admit that they didn't know; or worse, th
ey
would
tell him to stop asking too many questions. They kept trying
,
O Dearly Beloved, to send him down to the dark,
grey
,
greasy banks of the Limpopo River in
the hope that he would get his nose bitten.

At
the age
.
of seven he had his first meeting
with adult fallibility
.
His grandfather, a
bald man with a leathery skin who smelt of cigars and old car seats, was giving
him a
g
eneral knowledge test, asking the
names of rivers, mountains and capital cities. When he asked him what the
capital of America was, Taliesin became confused, his head filling with images
of skyscrapers
.
He knew he was wrong
but r
ather
th
an
n
ot g
ive th
e a
nswer h
e sa
id, 'New Y
ork.'
H
is gra
ndfather th
en
p
atted
him
o
n th
e
b
ack a
nd start
ed
t
o co
n
g
ratulate him
.
T
aliesin
felt un
comfortable
with th
e
pr
aise.

'
Is th
at
ri
ght
,
G
randpa?' h
e
a
sked,
p
erturbed.

'
Yes,
yes
,
of co
urse, N
ew
Y
ork,'
hi
s g
randfather
ass
ured h
im .

L
ater
th
at
ni
ght Ta
liesin
c
hecked his
g
lobe
.
N
ew Yo
rk
was t
here, in bold l
etters
s
ignifying importanc
e;
and W
ashington
w
as
th
ere, a
lso i
n
b
old
,
but und
erlined
t
o s
ignify
a ca
pital
city
.

B
efore
l
ong
h
e
had
s
ucceeded in
g
etting a numb
er of
Gro
wn-Ups,
in
cluding
h
is
m
other a
nd fath
er,
t
o say '
I d
on
't
kn
ow'
t
o a
nu
mber of
t
esting
qu
eries.
Hi
s
qu
estions
m
oved o
n from
t
he
o
ne-word-answer-fact-t
y
pe questi
ons
th
at
h
ad answe
rs
i
n t
extbooks,
t
o
m
ore a
bstract and
s
ubjective pr
ob
l
ems;
t
o
qu
estions t
hat
ge
nuinely
see
med to h
ave
n
o o
ne,
s
ingular
,
i
ncontestable
a
nswer. E
ven
te
achers w
e
re f
ound wa
nting..

If
th
ere a
re
q
uestions
a
t th
e
m
oment
th
ey
are min
or ones.
Ho
w
l
ong w
ill
s
ummer l
ast?
Ar
e
wart
s
in
fectious?

A
s
th
e
f
orm
t
eacher e
nters th
e
cl
assroom
T
aliesin
r
emains seate
d, tiltin
g
h
is
h
ead i
nto th
e w
arm light p
ouring
thr
ough
th
e c
eiling window. On his fin
ger
his has notic
ed
a
c
hange in th
e s
moothness o
f
hi
s s
kin
a
nd the appearan
ce o
f
a
n
o
paque hard
ening
lump. Wh
ile
M
r
D
avies
c
alls
the r
egister
T
aliesin
pl
aces
hi
s
fin
ger
int
o
th
e s
tream of li
ght
and hop
es
for th
e
b
eams
to burn th
e
wart aw
ay
.

Mr D
avies
i
s
h
aving
diffi
culty
with the
s
imple t
ask of
t
aking
r
egistration. T
here i
s a s
uperlative
s
tupidity
a
bout th
e
cl
ass
tod
ay
.
Th
is
w
eather
is di
stracting.
No one w
ants
to b
e
h
ere.
Th
e
t
eacher's
v
oice
i
s
lo
st
in
a
choru
s
of m
enagerie
n
oises
th
at
onl
y c
hildren and animal
s s
eem abl
e
to m
ake
.
Th
e s
urnames r
ecite
th
emselves
until Tali
esin's
own
a
ppro
aches.

'
Jones, Talie
sin?'