White: king's knight g1>f3

Keri-Lynn Hunter climbed off the elliptical trainer as soon as the phone rang.

"This is Keri-Lynn," she said, her southern drawl punctuated as she caught her breath. "Is that you, Mr. Goldstein?"

"Yes, Miss Hunter, it's Lionel Goldsteen in New York," came the nasal reply over the speaker phone. "Did we catch you at a bad time?"

"No, sir," she replied with faux cheer. "I was waiting for your call, uh, burning some energy on the treadmill."

"Alright, well, I'm here with Lowell from talent management, and basically we're talking about your future with the label..."

Keri-Lynn felt the tears welling up. "Sir, let me just say that I want to deal with this right now, and uh, as of this morning my father is no longer representing me as my agent or manager. And I'm hoping that you'll know... that I need to make this work."

"Alright, so you're aware of these comments he made yesterday?" Lionel asked. "And you want to distance yourself from them?"

"Absolutely," she replied. "I mean, Mr. Goldstein, we are southern folks. I do believe that there are confederate soldiers and maybe even slaveholders in my family tree..."

"Okay, well, it's ancient history for us and hopefully for you," Lowell spoke up. "From the record company's perspective, we have a diverse range of talent and we consider ourselves very diverse and very tolerant. Miss Hunter, you have a good voice, a good look, but you are not the first country-pop product this label has produced and we have other options if you don't fit in here..."

Keri-Lynn was feeling faint. "No, no, please, I'll do anything," she pleaded. "I want to prove I'm committed to diversity, and I'm committed to the label."

There was a pause on the other end of the line as Lowell and Goldstein exchanged a self-satisfied nod. "We're happy to hear that, Keri-Lynn," Goldstein said.

"We need a proactive engagement," Lowell insisted. "I'd like to have you working directly with some of our urban artists, maybe a duet. There's a Mardi Gras event in Calhoun City I want you at, charity for hurricane awareness, good stuff. We definitely need to have you interacting with the black community for awhile. The watchword is..."

"Interracial!" Goldstein added. "I love it! We're going to need to move forward on this, starting now. We'll be sending you some materials to review, some things to sign."

"Okay," she sniffled, wiping a tear of relief from her eye.