from the bowl and wiped them on a kitchen towel.
Dye came off on the towel but remained on his hands halfway up his forearms. Shrugging, he turned on the faucet, careful not to let the stream of water into the bowl of dye. But no matter how much water he ran over them, how much soap he used, his hands were still stained blue moon berry.
He glanced over and saw that Sarah Rose was studying the directions, her lips moving as she read the words.
“Sweetheart, what does it say about getting the dye off your hands?”
“I didn’t get any on my hands, Daedi . I used a spoon to stir.”
He dried his hands on the towel. “Let me see that.”
She handed the paper over and then her eyes lit up and she started laughing. “Oh, silly Daedi !” she laughed. “You didn’t use the spoon!”
“Why didn’t you read this part?” he asked, pointing at the big warning at the top of the page.
“I didn’t know how to pronounce that r word.”
“This one?” he asked, pointing to it.
“ Ya .”
“It’s rubber ,” he told her dryly. “ Rubber gloves .”
“Oh,” she said but with the air of unconcern that told him she really didn’t understand. “Are you getting out the Kool-Aid?”
“ Schur .” Shaking his head, he poured her a glass and brought the cookie jar to the table.
He fixed himself a cup of coffee and sat down with the directions, praying they’d offer him some suggestion on how he was going to get rid of blue hands and forearms.
Otherwise he was going to look pretty silly at church tomorrow.
4
Anna couldn’t put her finger on what it was, but something was definitely wrong with Gideon.
Oh, he looked as handsome as ever in his Sunday church clothes, his hair neatly combed, his smile warm and friendly.
Then he reached for the plate of food she offered and her eyes widened and she bobbled the plate. He caught it before it could fall and grinned.
“I’m hoping you can tell me what to do about my little problem,” he said, glancing down at his hands. “We were using the Kool-Aid kit, and I didn’t put on rubber gloves.”
She tried to hold back a giggle, she honestly did, but it slipped out anyway.
“What’s so funny?” Sadie, one of the women helping with the small meal after church, wanted to know.
Then she caught sight of Gideon’s hands and started to laugh. She covered her mouth. “I’m sorry!”
Sarah Rose appeared at her father’s side and frowned. “It’s not funny! Daedi scrubbed and scrubbed his hands.”
“You’re right, Sarah Rose, it’s not funny,” Anna said. “Gideon, I thought that kit came with rubber gloves.”
“We found them in the box,” Gideon told her, nodding. “After.”
John Stoltzfus clapped his hand on Gideon’s shoulder. “My son Henry says you’re turning into one of those Smurf cartoon characters he saw in a library book. They’re blue, you know?”
Sarah Rose went still, then backed away and walked toward the front door.
Anna started to say something to Gideon, but after the initial laugh at his expense, Gideon and the other man had launched into a business discussion.
“I’ll be right back,” she told Sadie.
She walked out onto the front porch and found Sarah Rose sitting in a rocker she’d pulled into the farthest corner. The child slumped down in the chair, her lip trembling.
“Sarah Rose? Sweetheart, are you all right?”
“Fine.” She turned her face away.
“You seem upset.”
She turned around. “It’s all my fault Daedi’s hands are blue.”
“Oh, I’m sure he doesn’t blame you.” She was silent for a moment. “I’m kind of surprised he didn’t think of the gloves.”
“I skipped that part in the d’rections.”
Directions. “But still—”
“We started talking about Mamm .” Her eyes grew bright with unshed tears. “I think—well, he always gets sad about her. He put his hands in the water with the dye ’cause I think he was upset and he forgot.”
She hung her head. “That’s why I