13 - Piano Lessons Can Be Murder by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead) Read Free Book Online Page B

out.
    “Our floor sweeper. It is rather special,” Dr. Shreek said. He stepped
past me and put a hand on the front of the thing.
    “It—it’s a machine?” I stammered.
    He laughed. “You didn’t think it was alive, did you?”
    I just gaped at it. I was still too freaked out to speak.
    “Mr. Toggle, our janitor, built this for us,” Dr. Shreek said, rubbing his
hand along the square metal front of it. “It works like a dream. Mr. Toggle can
build anything. He’s a genius, a true genius.”
    “Wh-why does it have a face?” I asked, hanging back against the wall. “Why
does it have eyes that light up?”
    “Just Mr. Toggle’s sense of humor,” Dr. Shreek replied, chuckling. “He put in
those cameras, too.” He pointed to the video camera perched on the ceiling. “Mr.
Toggle is a mechanical genius. We couldn’t do a thing without him. We really
couldn’t.”
    I took a few reluctant steps forward and admired the floor sweeper from
closer up. “I—I couldn’t find your office,” I told Dr. Shreek. “I was
wandering and wandering—”
    “I apologize,” he replied quickly. “Let us begin your lesson. Come.”
    I followed him as he led the way back in the direction I had come. He walked stiffly but rapidly. His white shirt was
untucked in front of his big stomach. He swung his hands stiffly as he walked.
    I felt really stupid. Imagine letting myself be terrified by a floor sweeper!
    He pushed open one of the brown doors with a round window, and I followed him
into the room. I glanced quickly around. It was a small, square room lighted by
two rows of fluorescents on the ceiling. There was no window.
    The only furniture was a small, brown upright piano, a narrow piano bench,
and a music stand.
    Dr. Shreek motioned for me to sit down on the piano bench, and we began our
lesson. He stood behind me, placing my fingers carefully on the keys, even
though I now knew how to do it myself.
    We practiced different notes. I hit C’s and D’s. Then we tried E’s and F’s.
He showed me my first chord. Then he had me do scales over and over.
    “Excellent!” he declared near the end of the hour. “Excellent work, Jerry.
I’m most pleased.” His Santa Claus cheeks were bright pink beneath his white
mustache.
    I squeezed my hands together, trying to get rid of a cramp. “Are you going to
be my teacher?” I asked.
    He nodded. “Yes, I will instruct you in the basics,” he replied. “Then when
your hands are ready, you will be given over to one of our fine teachers.”
    “When my hands are ready?”
    What exactly did he mean by that?
    “Let us try this short piece,” he said, reaching over me to turn the page in
the music book. “Now, this piece has only three notes. But you must pay
attention to the quarter notes and the half notes. Do you remember how long to
continue a half note?”
    I demonstrated on the piano. Then I tried to play the short melody. I did
pretty well. Only a few clunkers.
    “Wonderful! Wonderful!” Dr. Shreek declared, staring at my hands as I played.
He glanced at his watch. “I’m afraid our time is up. See you next Friday, Jerry.
Be sure to practice what I showed you.”
    I thanked him and climbed to my feet. I was glad the lesson was over. Having
to concentrate so hard was really tiring. Both my hands were sweating, and I
still had a cramp in one.
    I headed to the door, then stopped. “Which way do I go?” I asked. “How do I
get to the front?”
    Dr. Shreek was busy collecting the work sheets we had used, tucking them into the music book. “Just keep going left,” he
said without looking up. “You can’t miss it.”
    I said good-bye and stepped out into the dark hallway. My ears were
immediately attacked by the roar of piano notes.
    Aren’t the other lessons over? I wondered.
    How come they keep playing even though the hour is up?
    I glanced in both directions, making sure there were no floor sweepers
waiting to attack. Then I turned left, as Dr. Shreek had