It Started On A Monday
Title: It Started On A Monday
WC: 574
Characters: Toby (and then in order of appearance): CJ, Josh, Sam, Ginger, Donna, and President Bartlet.
Rating: PG
Summary: Toby liked the violent atmosphere of 1968.
Notes: AU- the world is on the brink of nuclear war with China, or Russia, or Iran. Doesn't really matter. The events of 1968 are not necessarially told chronologically, though most of them are. Also? Despite the violence, and the war, 1968 America sounds like such an exciting time to be alive. Not happy, really, but exciting.
Prompt: Fire, for writing_rainbow
Toby liked the violent atmosphere of 1968. He was 13 and coming into his own. There was violence, and chaos, and electricity. It was the year the world lost both Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. It was the year he took to the streets, protesting as America tried to find its footing in a new world.
"Toby!"
"Yeah? Sorry."
"You were just standing there."
"My sisters used to take me to protests. Back in the late 60s. When the world was colliding."
"The world's ending now, Toby."
"I know. Yeah. Sorry."
He remembers the death of Frankie Lyman, the First Battle of Saigon, Khe Sanh, My Lai, the Riots following the King assassination. Those he could always understand, bitterly; the death of promise, a black voice silenced in the night. In Brooklyn, the streets ran red and no-one slept.
"Toby?"
"Josh."
"I have this … card … NSA … I get to- I have to go …"
"Yeah."
"I can't find Sam."
"I'll tell him."
Johnson's Civil Rights Act brought little peace to the neighbourhood. Columbia University was a stone's throw from his backyard. When they shut it down, just after King's assassination, he went with his sisters, to watch the raw emotion of students who begged for a better America. The French government nearly collapsed, and the Catonsville Nine became his unlikely heroes.
"Toby?"
"Josh was just here."
"CJ says the world's colliding. Says she got it from you."
"It was 1968. It was a great time to be alive."
"Do you … need me for anything?"
"Josh was just here."
Robert Kennedy was killed and the nation lost another beacon of promise; of hope for a peaceful America. He remembers Cleveland burning, angry black voices, desperate to be heard. That he couldn't understand, after all this death, more senseless, nameless violence. And still the toll in Vietnam climbed.
"Toby!"
"Yeah, sorry."
"I thought you'd gone into shock …"
"All that death. And still, the world fought."
"Is there something I should be doing?"
"No, we wait. And hope. And pray that someone more powerful than us sees there is no logic in annihilation."
Chicago erupts next, America still smarting from the death of Kennedy. Protests erupt across the country in October, when the US sends thousands of men back to their deaths. It wasn't what they signed up for.
"Toby?"
"In here."
"Josh, he left, didn't he?"
"He didn't tell you?"
"I think he wanted to, but I'm just … an assistant. You know?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I know."
Laos burned and the world went White; Toby bought the album, playing it over and over and over again. And for Christmas, there was a wedding, thousands of sons die, and America comes one step closer to the moon.
"Toby!"
"Mr. President."
"We did it Toby! Two men came together and stopped a war! With nothing but our voices we reached across the divide and gave the world a new sense of hope."
"Congratulations, sir."
"There's a new world rising, Toby. The road will be hard. We'll make mistakes. But in the end …"
There is the moment when the astronauts disappear behind the moon. He clutches his little brother's hand, waits for the familiar crackle, the electricity in the air as chaos reigns and violence booms.
But just for that one moment, at the end of 1968, behind the dark side of the moon, there was something beautiful to hope for.
WC: 574
Characters: Toby (and then in order of appearance): CJ, Josh, Sam, Ginger, Donna, and President Bartlet.
Rating: PG
Summary: Toby liked the violent atmosphere of 1968.
Notes: AU- the world is on the brink of nuclear war with China, or Russia, or Iran. Doesn't really matter. The events of 1968 are not necessarially told chronologically, though most of them are. Also? Despite the violence, and the war, 1968 America sounds like such an exciting time to be alive. Not happy, really, but exciting.
Prompt: Fire, for writing_rainbow
Toby liked the violent atmosphere of 1968. He was 13 and coming into his own. There was violence, and chaos, and electricity. It was the year the world lost both Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. It was the year he took to the streets, protesting as America tried to find its footing in a new world.
"Toby!"
"Yeah? Sorry."
"You were just standing there."
"My sisters used to take me to protests. Back in the late 60s. When the world was colliding."
"The world's ending now, Toby."
"I know. Yeah. Sorry."
He remembers the death of Frankie Lyman, the First Battle of Saigon, Khe Sanh, My Lai, the Riots following the King assassination. Those he could always understand, bitterly; the death of promise, a black voice silenced in the night. In Brooklyn, the streets ran red and no-one slept.
"Toby?"
"Josh."
"I have this … card … NSA … I get to- I have to go …"
"Yeah."
"I can't find Sam."
"I'll tell him."
Johnson's Civil Rights Act brought little peace to the neighbourhood. Columbia University was a stone's throw from his backyard. When they shut it down, just after King's assassination, he went with his sisters, to watch the raw emotion of students who begged for a better America. The French government nearly collapsed, and the Catonsville Nine became his unlikely heroes.
"Toby?"
"Josh was just here."
"CJ says the world's colliding. Says she got it from you."
"It was 1968. It was a great time to be alive."
"Do you … need me for anything?"
"Josh was just here."
Robert Kennedy was killed and the nation lost another beacon of promise; of hope for a peaceful America. He remembers Cleveland burning, angry black voices, desperate to be heard. That he couldn't understand, after all this death, more senseless, nameless violence. And still the toll in Vietnam climbed.
"Toby!"
"Yeah, sorry."
"I thought you'd gone into shock …"
"All that death. And still, the world fought."
"Is there something I should be doing?"
"No, we wait. And hope. And pray that someone more powerful than us sees there is no logic in annihilation."
Chicago erupts next, America still smarting from the death of Kennedy. Protests erupt across the country in October, when the US sends thousands of men back to their deaths. It wasn't what they signed up for.
"Toby?"
"In here."
"Josh, he left, didn't he?"
"He didn't tell you?"
"I think he wanted to, but I'm just … an assistant. You know?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I know."
Laos burned and the world went White; Toby bought the album, playing it over and over and over again. And for Christmas, there was a wedding, thousands of sons die, and America comes one step closer to the moon.
"Toby!"
"Mr. President."
"We did it Toby! Two men came together and stopped a war! With nothing but our voices we reached across the divide and gave the world a new sense of hope."
"Congratulations, sir."
"There's a new world rising, Toby. The road will be hard. We'll make mistakes. But in the end …"
There is the moment when the astronauts disappear behind the moon. He clutches his little brother's hand, waits for the familiar crackle, the electricity in the air as chaos reigns and violence booms.
But just for that one moment, at the end of 1968, behind the dark side of the moon, there was something beautiful to hope for.