"Again!"
Jerald could hear his mother, who stood beside the piano scream in his ear as his fingers played the keys on the piano. He looked up at the sheet and started again, his fingers moving over the keys fluently. He missed a key slightly and his mother slammed the long, thick can on the surface of his fingers.
"You're really getting on my nerves! The recital is in two days and you are playing the piece so sloppily! I won't have it!"
She hit his fingers again with the long wooden cane and snarled at him.
"Again!" She bellowed.
Jerald started again and moved his trembling fingers along the piano keys as he stared at the sheet, making sure to follow it properly. His fingers throbbed terribly, but that didn't bother him. He had become numb to this kind of treatment because it was nothing new to him.
