Free The Testimony of Taliesin Jones by Rhidian Brook Page A

goes to the
kitchen to put on the kettle .
    'Two sugars is it?' Billy asks.
    'Yes, please .'
    Billy makes the tea with ritualistic attention to d etail: warming the pot
with a cupful of just-boiled water , adding th e bags and water before placing a cosy over the pot and
letting it stand for three minutes, putting the milk in the mugs and pouring
the tea, the spout some twelv e inche s from th e lip . It's the hands that Taliesin watches closely . Everything done with
those hands has a sureness of touch and a calm beauty . The tea enters the
cup with an exquisitely irritating noise and as the cup fills he lowers the pot
towards it . Then
h e adds
the sugars, stirring them vigorously before tappin g the spoon dry, all
the time smiling his smile .
    Billy 's face invites those who meet him to relax . It is the face of an ageless cherub with
laughing eyes that blink and ~winkle rapidly as if letting you in on a joke . Reverence and Irreverence jostle for supremacy
there but neither of them wins. Some smiles smile at things or with things , before and after
things, some patronize , s ome anticipate. Billy's smile is a smile of ge ntle surprise e at th e wonder of it all ; a smile that finds
beauty in every littl e thing -even the stirring and tappin g of a stainle ss s teel t easpoon.
    'I'm afraid we may have to cut the lesson short today,'
he s ays. ' I don 't know if you rem ember the lady who sat
with us last we ek? Sh e'll b e turning up again today. It's the only time she can come . We'd better make a
quick start .' Billy nods toward s the piano.
    Wh en Talie sin fir st s aw Billy's pi ano he was disappointed. He exp ected a piano teach er to own a piano of
the highest qualit y - s omething Germ an sounding and black . But compared to Tali esin's father Billy i s poor. His house only has on e floor and hi s pi ano sounds tinny
compared to the full, rounded timbr e of his mother' s German, mahogany, one hundred-y ear-old piano which
she always described as priceles s. Talie sin has y et to find out how much pr iceless is. Priceless i s a word us ed to d escribe jewels found
in che sts by
pirates. Wh en he asked Billy Evan s if his piano wa s priceless Bill y r eplied that it was worthles s. He owned nothin g that wa s pricele ss, he s aid.
    Th e room is spar sely de corated: a jubilee mu g and a pipe rack with two pipes in it stands by the fire . Ju st above the
television is a sin gle s helf with a brass bell and a lilac figurine of a lad y. On top of the
television is a Bible thi ck enough to wind-break a chapel door. Billy used this book
to improv e Taliesin 's po sture at the piano . By balancing it on
his head Talie sin was forced to sit correctly and he now sits well, thanks
to th e imagined
pr esence of
the book lying across h is crown.
    Taliesin starts to play ' The Dancing Bear ', playing it as if he' s readin g th e music . H e isn't able to admit anything yet. He even feigns a
squint.
    'That' s a little too fast ,' Billy says. 'You need to let the gaps in . The gaps make the
music work .'
    Tali esin s tarts a gain, pl aying it m ore
s lowly, l eaving m ore t ime b etween th e b ars.
    'Tho se ar e p auses but th ey're n ot ga ps . Y ou're n ot fe elin g th e ga ps. L et m e s how y ou.' Bill y pl ays th e pi ece a n oc tave
lip th e k eyboard . H e is a robu st ~ an a nd th is ac ce ntuates ~ he deli cacy with
which he pl ays. Hish ands a re wide a nd thi ck fin gered . Th ey hav e a w eight, a n a ura,
th ey p ossess a n
int ellige nce o f
th eir own. T aliesin's
f ather a lways sa id
th at yo u co uld
tell a l ot from s omeone’s h ands:
age, occ upation, eve n p ersonality, Bill y's h ands say a g reat d eal. Th ey a re w ide , hairl ess, m ottled, g enerous h ands, built t o a pplaud li fe a nd r estore it ; h ands th at m ight cla sp yo u o n e ither s houlder a nd s teer yo u i n
the r ight dir ection;
wo rking h ands w ith b attered h alf-moonless n ails, c hipped here a nd
th ere; h ands th at you r eally n