Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Martin Luther King Junior's "I Have a Dream" speech. What direct quotes I got were from (And, to any history junkies who may be reading this, forgive me if I got some of my visualizations wrong. Please feel free to correct me in the form of a review.

A/N: Sorry to keep this chappy waiting a little longer… It was harder to get started on this one. I think it'll be worth it, though. :)

Chapter Eight:

A Dream in the Future

The next morning, Seaweed settled himself onto a short wall around a shrub near the Lincoln Memorial. He motioned to Penny, indicating that she should sit on his lap.

Penny looked around nervously at the surrounding people. Her experience with public displays of affection—particularly with Seaweed—was that they were not generally well received.

Seaweed, once again, seemed to read her mind. "Penny," he said softly, "no one is going to try to stop us here. They're here to support integration, remember?"

Penny nodded and obligingly sat on his lap. Her arms autonomously went around his neck, and his arms looped around her waist. She kissed the top of his head (his hair looked like it wouldn't be soft—but it was), and he kissed her neck. He was gentle about it, but it still gave her the shivers.

"Why don't you ever let me sit in your lap like that?" Tracy teased Link.

Link thought furiously for an answer that would not end in him getting in trouble and was thankfully saved by Ms. Maybelle.

"We got some good seats!" she remarked. They were as close as guest audiences could sit—the press had already made camp on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, waiting for the wonderful Dr. King to arrive. There were camera crews and national radio stations mixed in with eager newspaper reporters, and every one was bouncing with anticipation.

Thousands of people waited patiently—if perhaps noisily—for Dr. King to appear on the Memorial. Penny fidgeted anxiously, and Seaweed rubbed her back to relax her. "He'll come out soon," he whispered.

They waited expectantly for a few more minutes, eyes trained on the podium at the top of the Lincoln Memorial. After a while, Penny saw a broad-shouldered, square-jawed black man make his way up the steps. He had a charismatic air about him, but he also seemed humble, as though he could make excellent conversation with anyone in the crowd before him, but wouldn't really intimidate any of them.

Ms. Maybelle gasped and sat up straighter. This must surely be Dr. King.

He got up to the podium and arranged his notecards. Then, he looked out at the audience and began to speak.

"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro is not free…"

Penny closed her eyes, leaned against Seaweed, and let the words wash over her. He spoke fervidly about how Americans—all Americans—had been promised a "check" of sorts entitling them to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; but black people had been handed a bad check. He asserted that America could not wait any longer to give its people of color what they were due—but quickly admonished that violence should never replace civil protest. He made it clear that civil rights protestors would not be satisfied until minorities were just as much a respected part of society as white people were.

All in all, it was the most moving, uplifting, spirited speech Penny had ever heard, and it only got better.

"I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day, this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering from the heat of injustice, sweltering from the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that one day, my four little children will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers."

Penny leaned down and whispered in Seaweed's ear. "It sounds like paradise."

Seaweed shook his head. "No, it doesn't. It sounds like what this world should be like."

Penny nodded and concentrated on the last bit of the speech. "When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

This conclusion was met with thunderous applause, as well as more than a few passionate cries of "AMEN!" (Most of these came from Ms. Maybelle.)

For a moment, Penny felt sorry for the newspaper reporters. There was no way the emotion in that speech could be contained on a page…

A/N: Ready... set... REVIEW:) No, seriously, I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who has reviewed nicely, read faithfully, and just been all around great. There are SO MANY of you (thank you to EVERYBODY), but the ones that stood out to me were: Penguinperson, sweets09, Ashbashtus89 (did I get it right this time:) ), hairspraygirl, and (most recently) Blushing Juliet and Lizardz94. :) Thanks, y'all.