When my cousin Steph and I were six through nine-ish years old, we went to Ezra Baker Elementary School in West Dennis. 

 

Each morning after getting off the bus, Steph and I ran up to Principle Morley’s tall figure with huge smiles.
 

"There are my bus twins!" he responded, always.

 

That school was like Hogwart's in the Harry Potter movies. An old structure even in our day (the 1970s) -- there were nooks and crannies in magic places. During Halloween, we kids lined up and walked the fun ramp (known to grown-ups as a hallway) to a high-ceilinged gym. Strangely, our music room was small and connected to that huge gym.

 

Here, our music teacher played Monster Mash while we girls swayed on the floor, fifties style. That room was, and still is, filled with sunshine beaming in from the school's main entrance. Can you imagine giant, main doors opening into a room? It’s true . The school’s large, main doors opened right into the music room, which was probably once the school’s main hall.
 

Up some winding stairs, were the upper-grade rooms. When I was in fourth grade, a cubby hole sat low in the wall next to our desks. Each day, my best friend and I went into that hole to share our newest lip gloss. It was our secret place.

 

One day, in the hole, we heard another kid say, "Hi!"

 

But it didn't come from us. A ghost! We thought.

 

My friend dared me to say "hi" back.

 

"Hi?" I said.

 

"Who are you?" the voice asked.

 

"Us - it's us," we both said, surprised. "Who are you?"

 

"I'm a kid."

 

We didn't get to the bottom of it till the next day, when the voice explained, "I'm a kid - in a classroom."

 

Learning who "the kid's" teacher was, we discovered that our secret cubby hole turned out to be connected to a pipe which connected to another secret cubby hole in the room across from ours. So our hiding place had turned into another kid's as well. As intriguing as a ghost!

 

And outside on an enormous playground, were short bushes where we girls hid from - or were chased by - boys. One almost-summer day, it was just us girls. We went into the large field away from the swings, jungle gyms, merry go rounds and slides. We sat on the ground talking, when a mini tornado swept up from some dirt, and swirled in front of us.
 

"Did you see that?" we asked simultaneously.

 

I think I will always "see" these memories when I think of the Cape's "magic school."