The fear and danger of civil rights keeps white and black people in their places. The risk of their secret meetings is biggest for Aibileen, but she decides that her desire to tell her story is bigger than her fear of being caught. After their first meeting when Aibileen was too nervous to talk to her, Skeeter learns that she must meet Aibileen as an equal if she wants to develop a relationship that will help the book—meaning she must convince Aibileen to see her as more than just another Southern white woman. Skeeter refuses to allow Aibileen to serve her, insists that they sit in the kitchen, and brings along bottled Cokes to share. She wants Aibileen to tell her the stories of being a black maid but not behave toward her as a black maid would. These gestures communicate to Aibileen that Skeeter just may be a different kind of white woman. Hilly, too, suspects that Skeeter may have different opinions about segregation when she discovers a copy of the Jim Crow regulations in Skeeter's bag. Hilly intimates that Stuart's political connections wouldn't be happy with Skeeter's possible views on civil rights. It is a veiled threat from one white woman to the next to leave things the way they are or else.