Steven grimaced and folded his hands under his
arms.
"I don't know why all this is so important. It has
nothing to do with the way I play piano," he
complained.
"If that's all you want, get a job in some smoke
filled dive," Howard told him.
Steven glared at him. What a time to begin
bickering amongst ourselves, I thought, with our
teachers about to meet us. Why was it my
expectations rose and fell with roller coaster
emotions? One moment I was feeling optimistic about
us all enjoying this experience, and the next I was
dreading another moment in this house. I gazed about
the table, searching everyone's face to see if anyone
else seemed to have similar feelings. They all looked
lost in their own thoughts.
A grandfather clock ticked the hour.
And, on cue, our teachers began to enter the
room. With Howard practically leaping to his feet
first, we all stood.
A short, bald man with dull brown watery eyes and a complexion as pale as tissue paper took the seat directly across from me. He didn't smile so much as he turned his lips into each other and pulled back the corners of his mouth. He was plump, a little barrelchested, with a necklace of fat hanging at the sides of his throat. His ears were far too large for his head. They looked tacked on at the last minute, mistakenly
taken from someone else's assigned features. Right behind him came a far younger-looking,
tall, slender man with hair as black as Ice's, styled
with a soft wave from his forehead back. He had
bright hazel eyes with specks of green and a thin,
straight nose above very soft-looking lips. Unlike the
bald man, he wore a pleasant smile. He nodded at us
and gave Rose, in particular, an additional and wider
smile.