Like Mr. Pincus, the coach of the basketball team, Tom Pecora, has a skeptical view of the talisman idea — up to a point.
Ye olde parchment serves as shorthand for everything old, real, durable, American, and true — a talisman held up against the uncertainties and abstractions of a meaningless, changeable, paperless age.
"Time and again," says the narrator, "I heard him say 'Well, this is a bull market you know!', as though he were giving you a priceless talisman wrapped up in a million-dollar accident insurance policy.
The test of faith for which Father Bernard Kinvi had waited half his life arrived one January dawn when a heavily armed man with a necklace of talismans pulled up on a motorbike outside the Roman Catholic mission hospital in Bossemptele.
There is some evidence that investor interest in Talisman is picking up.
Since 1999, a consortium made up of Talisman of Canada, Petronas of Malaysia, the China National Petroleum Corporation and Sudapet of Sudan has been pumping oil.
Alan Measles, who would defeat the Germans and protect young Grayson, pops up as talisman, badge, papal stamp, shaman and, best of all, on horseback, as a monument to our helpful imaginary friends.
Ian Poulter, Europe's main Ryder Cup talisman, pumps the crowd up on the second day of the 2010 event.
Msakni, who has proved to be Tunisia's talisman so far, picked up possession some 30 yards from goal and weaved his way unopposed into the penalty box before slotting past a shaky Daouda Kassaly.
Stephen Gallacher 5. Chosen as a captain's wildcard, the local hero was sent out on the first morning with Medinah talisman Ian Poulter to fire up the home crowd.
