DRAMIONEPERFECTED NOTES AND DISCLAIMERS

A/N: Inspiration was taken from 'The Help', the amazing book by Kathryn Stockett, the song 'Fireflies' by Owl City, 'Yankee Girl', a 60's based book by Mary Ann Rodman … and of course, Hairspray and the events surrounding that era. Hope you enjoy x

Disclaimer: I own a real cute laptop, but not Hairspray. Sorry Nan. We're not going to the Ritz on Sunday after all :(


FIREFLIES

3rd September 1963

As fall approached, the meetings outside "Sugar and Spice" were more and more frequent. Their presence was always identified the wall of music being blasted from the transistor radio Seaweed carried with him in his battered, black, third-hand Chevy: sometimes it was a soulful Detroit sound, like the Stevie Wonder or the Supremes; sometimes it was the stereotypical 'white-approved' tunes - Dion, The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley; and sometimes, rarely, very rarely, it was some of the newest hits from The Monkees, or the very latest to hit Baltimore: a British boy band with silly hair and an even sillier name - The Beatles. Tracy and Penny had loved them, Link had hated them and Seaweed had just laughed. "Not bad, for a cracker boy!" he had told them, shaking his head at Link's look of disgust whilst Penny and Tracy had done the twist up and down the length of Motormouth Records to 'Please, Please Me.'

There had been good times, good laughs, but one day, there was no music.

Seaweed pulled up to meet Penny, but there wasn't a pause, a hug. They drove straight up and out of the town, stopping on the road out of the city, parking between the trees - a place where they wouldn't be disturbed. Seaweed Stubbs took his lover's hand in his, and there was a moment of silence as their skin met: black on white, ebony on ivory, chocolate on vanilla. Eventually, it was Penny who broke the silence.

"Is this about what they said about Martin Luther King?"

"Yeah, baby girl… in a sense." There was another pause, a deafening silence that seemed to stretch the air around them. After what seemed like an eternity, Penny spoke again.

"Seaweed… what are you thinking?" It was then Seaweed realised the pained expression he was pulling. He sat up straight, and turned to look Penny in the eye. Over the time he had known her, he had learned that it was better to address her directly, instead of making a scene avoiding the subject. "The reason I say 'In a sense' is because of what he said." Penny nodded, indicating he should go on. "He said that we - not just you and me - but everyone in the world, could stand together as the glory of the lord is revealed." As he said this, Penny couldn't help but think of her mother at home, who would be sitting with her leather-bound bible, bitter and prejudice, acting holy and almighty; and Maybelle, who meant every prayer with all her heart, who would be with Inez, reading the Lords Prayer from a second-hand copy of the New Testament borrowed from Preacher Johnson before putting Inez to bed. Who would God favour when that moment came, when all his glory was revealed? It was almost stupid to think of Maybelle and Prudence being loved equally.

"He wants peace, Penny, he wants peace and love, but how can there be peace and love when so many men are out at war?" Seaweed sighed heavily, like a huge weight was balanced on his shoulders. "It needs to end, but it can't, not like that." Seaweed snapped his fingers. " Now the war has started, it needs to be fought, and finished, won or lost, one way or another, so that we can come home in peace." He looked back to her, and saw the tears in her eyes. "I need to be part of this. I need to go to this war, so the war here can be won." He sighed again, sounding like all the air was being sucked out of him. Penny grasped his hand. "You're going Vietnam?" She asked, looking deep into his eyes.

"I think so. I need to make momma proud" For a while he just held her, lost deep in thought, until another question arose.

"You always say that, Seaweed. Everytime something big happens, you say you've got to make your momma proud. Why, Sea?" But he didn't answer: he just sat there, looking through the smeary window-screen at the setting sun. "Sea?" Penny pestered. "What did your momma do before the Corny Collins show, Sea? This is something to do with that, isn't it"

Seaweed bit his lip. "It was my fault."

"What was?"

"She always said it ain't my fault, but it was, I know it. I should have waited."

"Sea…"

"I done got my momma fired, ok?"

There was a shocked silence, and when Penny looked over, she wasn't the only one with tears in her eyes.

"It was a few years back: I was ten, Inez was four. We weren't living in Baltimore; we lived down south… in, um… Mississippi. Sugar Ditch." His voice was a whisper, quiet and ashamed. "Mom spent a good two years looking for work - we were near-starved, I can tell you. I remember her sitting up at some godforsaken hour a' night, with bills and job listings all around her on the table. Eventually, she found work: a job in Jackson, working for some snooty white lady. The Help" He confirmed, looking Penny straight in the eye. "It wasn't anything fancy, but she was over the moon: mostly cause we could leave Tunica, and Inez and I could get a proper education instead of running around town dropping off momma's résumé to everywhere we could walk to. She never asked us, we just… did."

"What happened?"

"One day, our nanny, Miss Constantine, was sick. Mom had to sneak us to work with her: by chance, there was some shop opening five miles north a' town, so White Lady wasn't home. We were good mostly, staying out a' momma's way, but about five minutes before she finished, I needed the bathroom. Momma was runnin' round cleaning, so she just told me to go." Seaweed closed his eyes. "Well, I was only young, and I didn't know about their funny ways then, so I just ran and went. Well, I done gone an' went into the wrong bathroom!"

Penny stared, perplexed, urging Seaweed to explain. "In this ladies house, there were three bathrooms: the main bathroom, the guest bathroom, and momma's bathroom."

"Oh!" said Penny, not understanding in the slightest.

"No, baby girl, not 'Oh!'. White Lady didn't wanna be sharing her bathroom with momma, 'cause she's… black." He sighed for the third time since their arrival. "The thing was, the lady came home early. Walked in just as I was leaving her fancy bathroom. She completely flipped. Told momma she was a no-good nigra who needed to know where to draw the line. She didn't care that I was only a kid. By that afternoon, we were on the streets."

"Sea, I-" Penny breathed, as she pulled him into a rib-crushing hug. Neither said a word, until Seaweed pulled away.

"It's ok, though." he smiled. "A few days later, she was at the record store, singing, when a guy called Howard Collins heard her."

"Co… Not Corny!"

"Got it in one, baby girl! He said that he was starting a new teen dance show, something fresh, something hip, up in Baltimore. He asked if she'd come and help, and the rest is history."

"Wow."

Seaweed reached out, taking Penny's hand once more, and together they stood outside the car in the twilight, his transistor radio blaring the sweet tunes of Dianna Ross. Penny pointed upwards, showing him the glowing specks of light that hovered above them. "I love fireflies." she sighed. "It's like they live for dancing, it's just what they do!" Seaweed chuckled.

"What kind of dance are they doing now, then, baby girl?"

"A foxtrot," she smiled. "Definitely a foxtrot"

They watched the fireflies dance for a while - twisting, jiving, spinning - and they soon joined in, twirling under the blanket of stars until they felt like the dance would never end. Penny looked up into Seaweed's , asking the question she had been meaning to ask since the beginning.

"When are you going to Vietnam?"

"I leave for the recruitment centre tomorrow."

"Then please," Penny whispered, tears making tracks on her cheeks. "Can I have one last dance?"


REVIEW! This chapter took me ages, with literally hours of research, so please make it worth my while! Much love xxx