Ethan’s classroom looked exactly like the set of a Disney movie. Three-dimensional flowers climbed one wall and reached for a sparkly painted sun smiling down from the ceiling. Styrofoam clouds circled the sun like big puffy pillows. On the far side of the room, black chalkboard paint sliced through the length of two walls and a snippet of ceiling, transforming day to night. Randomly placed stick-on stars actually glowed against the dark paint. The Big Dipper hung from the ceiling. Next to it, a hanging cow jumped over a hanging moon.

The last time I’d been here, a reading nook had been tucked into the nighttime corner. It was partitioned off by a sturdy plywood divider that looked exactly like an open book, complete with a blank line so the kids could fill in the book’s title, as well as another line to add their own name as the author.

The open book had been replaced with a plywood Egyptian pyramid. It was maybe six-feet tall, with a square base and four triangular sides. It was painted white and covered with chocolate brown hieroglyphics. Two square openings allowed the kids to climb in one side and out the other. I peeked inside to see a fluffy floor pillow, a pile of books, a flashlight.

“Good job, Ethan honey,” Gloria said. “Many people would have mistakenly built a tetrahedron pyramid that has a base and three sides, all congruent, instead of an authentic Egyptian pyramid.”

June sighed. “Teacher nerd talk is everything.” She flipped her hair, creating a wave of shimmering blond.

“I don’t mess around.” Ethan threw his shoulders back, gave his chest a couple of Tarzan beats.

Ethan and Polly exchanged looks. I could tell by the way Polly was grinning that she’d already seen the pyramid. Maybe she’d even painted the hieroglyphics on it. Maybe every time Polly disappeared in her car, she was meeting Ethan at Bayberry. Maybe it was none of my business.

“It’s incredible,” I said.

“Thanks,” Ethan said. “Okay, just throwing this out there, but maybe the theme of the holiday performance could be celebrations around the world. A little bit of Christmas and Hanukah and Kwanza and whatever, plus other things that are more secular and multicultural. We could put a big red bow on top of the pyramid—”

“And what,” Lorna said, “try to pass it off as an Egyptian Christmas tree?”

“Stop,” I said, as if that might work with Lorna. “I know, we can play The Bangles’ ‘Walk Like an Egyptian,’ and the kids can do a line dance in one door of the pyramid and out the other.”

We all immediately broke out our “Walk Like an Egyptian” dance moves.

“See,” Ethan said. “We’ve got this.”