I'm waiting to see if a 4th guy arives as that might make things easier all around. We can certainly go with the 7 as they stand, but I have concerns that as characters will start to pair off (as they seem to always do) that one of the girls will find herself left out of the social aspects of the story. I had expected this, of course, which was the original concept had been offered as more of a communial experience rather than an exclusive one. Sort of the first hints of the free-love that would be in the not too distant future. The fact that one of the characters has to enter with a boy-friend and at least one crush that may exclude the option of blended relationships, we'll have to see how it goes. As Danny would certainly look toward one character or another as a primary relationship, he wouldn't shy away from games that exposes him to the other girls, which may be a problem for Danny's prospective girl-ffriends, but that just adds to the story in the end.<br/><br/>On the topic of racial slurs and reactions. Keep in mind that the times were filled with terms that we find either offensive or derogatory today that were as often as not simple references to identify a group in the 50's. Because the word "kraut" might be used doesn't directly follow that a racist or hatred is involved. The 50's were a hard time for many peoples. The war in Eaurope and the South Pacific are still fresh in many minds, even after 10 years. All of the characters will have some direct relatable experience with this as they lived through it on the home front. Nate, in particular would remember the bombing of London and the sounds of air battles overhead. Lilly may well have a number of horror stories from the chinese who either fled to America during the war, or after it of the Japanese who committed such acts of horrors there. Most of the fathers of the characters probably faught in this war and bring their own influences into the minds of young children after they came home. Most American servicemen didn't hate germans, but the term "Kraut" was still being used for 15 or 20 years after the war.<br/><br/>Then, there is the very recently concluded Korean Conflict with it's thousands of service men returning from a war that couldn't even be called a war and their views on the chinese and Koreans. Some may be good, others bad.  Most people can't tell the physical difference between the chinese, japanese and Koreans if you explained it to them today. Back then, they were all lumped together.<br/><br/>It is also still the time of the pulps and radio programs where the Yellow Peril is still alive and well in popular fiction. So, racist remarks are subjective. We are all products of our upbringing. As long as someone doesn't walk up and snear at Lilly with a "Damend Gook!" there may, or may not be any hatred involved. Racism is a little different, but also much the same.