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“I want it to last a long time,” Dani said seriously, bouncing in her seat to get the attention of the adults. “Can we do it again if it goes away?”
“If it’s okay with your parents,” Shoshana said, ignoring David’s chuckle.
“Could we doanothercolor?” Dani said, eyeing Shoshana’s hair. It was still shades of pink, but she’d added some teal streaks.
“Let's start with this,” Shoshana said, suspecting the main reason Mariam had been so amenable, was that the rose-gold color wasn’t a true pink. It would appear more of a mauvey-brown. She lifted two sections of her own hair. “Remember it’s going to look more like this hair, not this hair. That’s still okay, right?”
“Yep, I like those colors, they look like pony hairs,” Dani said, her newest obsession being an animated horse cartoon.
“Excellent logic,” David said, fingers fiddling absently with one of the dye brushes.
“David, are you concerned about what the congregation will say?” Shoshana said, realizing she sounded plaintive, but the thought occurred to her from nowhere. He rolled his eyes.
“It’s just temporary,” he reasoned. “Dani isn’t the first kid to change her hair color.”
“She’s probably the first four-year-old to do it,” Mariam pointed out, then sipped her drink. She winked at her daughter. “I may have to visit to witness this.”
“You should definitely visit,” Dani said, as though this was an obvious idea that didn’t need discussion.
“If the congregation has a problem with it,” David said, returning the conversation to Shoshana’s concern, his tone exasperated, but it didn’t appear to be directed at her, “they’ll end up with a rabbi with pink hair--and I mean cotton candy pink, not what we’re putting on Dani’s hair.”
“You said if I don’t like it, we can fix it, remember,” Dani said, taking Shoshana’s hand, her legs kicking on the stool. Shoshana nodded her agreement. This was entirely true. She didn’t want to think too closely about David deciding to solidarity-dye his own hair. She knew he’d do it, and was tempted to let him, but the idea of him with pink hair was too much to think about right this second.
She let go of Dani’s hand to put on the gloves she kept under her bathroom sink. She wondered if life was better, or there was so much happening, or if she’d learned better coping skills, because six months ago this would be the moment she had a screaming meltdown, convinced she would be the reason her boyfriend was about to be unemployed. Dani giggled, making a comical face at her father, David answered with one of his own, and Mariam clapped from the phone. Shoshana shrugged off the line of thinking. It could be all of the things or none of them. It didn’t matter right this second.
“What Dani said is true,” she said, choosing to focus on the moment in front of her, “If you really hate it, dandruff shampoo will wash it out faster.”
“Or if I want a different color!” Dani chimed in, excited.
Shoshana laughed, shooting an apologetic look at both the phone and the rabbi. She may have created a monster.
“Let’s start with this,” David said in a practiced tone.
Mariam made a noise and a quick glance at the phone showed that she was highly amused. Shoshana took the lid off the tub of conditioner and held it up to Dani to inspect.
“It smells a little minty, right?”
Dani dipped her head forward, her nose almost but not quite touching the bit of product in the lid of the container. She made a happy noise to the affirmative and sat back on the stool, pleased.
“But not minty like my toothpaste goops is minty.”
“Right, that stuff is disgusting,” Shoshana said, and David laughed. She met his eyes quickly, the look intimate, and communicating everything she felt for him. His mouth curved into a knowing smile. She shook her head at him. Later.
She lifted a dye brush and dipped it expertly into the tub of conditioner with one hand, lifting her other to Dani for a quick high-five before she said, “Okay, small one, you ready? Let's do this.”
