Whitney starts her shift at Sunburst.
Jessie: Hey, Whitney. Did Tris tell you my brothers were moving to town?
Whitney: Yes, she did. She also told me about her parents leaving town. Good riddance, if you ask me.
Jessie: They're actually leaving? I thought that was a ploy to make her feel bad for marrying badly. Anyway, this is Ebenezer in the orange and Khalil with all the braids.
Ebenezer: Nice to meet you, ma'am.
Whitney: Ma'am? I like you.
Khalil: Hey, little man, don't be macking on all the women before I get the chance. (To Whitney) I understand your police chief has a zero tolerance policy for racism.
Whitney: She doesn't have much tolerance for any bigotry. If it's actual bigotry and not a misunderstanding. Like sometimes people are just ignorant but well-intentioned.
Jessie: Khalil, back off. You sound like a fanatic. (To Whitney) He starts duty tomorrow, but he's never actually met Lynch. Phone interviews, e-mails. When she found out he was a Cooper, she snatched him right up.
Khalil: You'd sound like a fanatic, too, if you'd been turned down for several jobs because your dad's Rom and your mom's black.
Jessie (sarcastically): Like that's never happened to me. Try being a woman on top of being a black Rom.
Whitney: Well, on that note, I'll let you look over the menu and take care of my other table.
Whitney goes to the kitchen and brings out the food.
Whitney: Can I get anything else for you?
Carol: No, thank you.
Paige: Mom, we would like to be introduced to the people in this town. We're going to be working and living here, and we'd like to make friends. You might like being a hermit, but we don't.
Paige: My sister and I will be working at the medical center. I'm an optometrist and she's an ophthalmologist.
Ellie: She's Paige, I'm Ellie. You know our mother?
Whitney: Yes, I know Agent Danvers. I'm Whitney Darling. I work here and I'm majoring in Undecided at the local college.
Carol: Whitney's future mother-in-law is the mayor. And her father owns the local TV station. (To Whitney) False modesty doesn't suit you.
Whitney (offended, but polite): I don't define myself through Tanner, his stepmother, or Dad.
Paige (as Whitney walks away): What the hell was that, Mom?
****
Once the Coopers have ordered and Whitney serves their food, Jessie returns to gossiping with her.
Jessie: We told Khalil to try getting a job here because, like he said, there's still a lot of bigots in the system. He's got a stellar resume, but...
Ebenezer: They keep using his hair as an excuse. Girl cops don't gotta have short hair, so why should guy cops?
Whitney: I'm pretty sure BPD's policy is just that it be tidy. Lynch has longer hair than me and she just pulls it beck in a ponytail most of the time. (To Khalil) But if your hair has religious or cultural significance, they legally can't make you cut it.
Khalil: They legally can't refuse to hire me because of my ethnicity, either, but they sure have been doing it. Not all of them, but enough of them that I got fed up.
Ebenezer: But then Jessie and Bapo told us this town has a black lady mayor and Khalil decided to send Barbieville a copy of his resume. Next thing he knows, he's got a job offer! And since Jessie's roomie moved out, we can live with her and I'll have my own room.
Whitney: I wonder what it's like to have your own room? I share with my little sister and my daughter.
