Why the diverse characters?

Soldadera firing a Maxim MG 08 machinegun

Logan: OK. As you may remember, the publisher asked, “Why the diverse characters?”

Frankie: (Rolls eyes.)

Nick: What a dumbassed question. The United States is a diverse country. I didn’t pick the characters, I ran into them. 

Logan: OK. Frankie is Navajo. How’d you meet him? 

Nick: First off, running into a Navajo jewelry artist in Arizona is not a freakish coincidence. But as I explained in the book, Frankie brought mutton stew to a

Kiwanis picnic. It’s a Navajo thing, but it’s also a Scottish thing. My grandmother made it when I was kid. Frankie saw I was the only person eating it, and that’s how we met.

Frankie: And Nick gave me his grandmother’s recipe. It’s good, but so is mine.

Logan: No disputing about tastes. Now, Nick, how did you meet Paco Madero and Joey Huerta?

Nick: I think I met them at the same picnic, but I would have met them sooner or later anyway. They both consulted with me on gem sources and had me authenticate major purchases. They had mixed reputations, but they were always on the level with me. But is anyone stupid enough to marvel at running into Latino lapidaries in Quartzrock, Arizona? Not running into Latino lapidaries in Quartzrock, now, that would be profoundly amazing.

Logan: Sorry, I had to ask.  Remember not everyone knows Arizona. Or Quartzrock. Now, how about Jing?

Nick: That’s a more reasonable question. I saw her at the bar in the La Piazza, and thought she looked interesting.

Frankie: “Interesting.”

Nick: She is interesting. And that’s really the point. I don’t meet a beautiful Chinese woman with a master’s in chemical engineering every day, especially one who is obviously an industrial spy. See, the story is told in real time, but you edited it, Logan.  If Jing hadn’t turned out to be an industrial spy, you would have cut my meeting her out, even my inspired “She’s hotter than the Liuhuanggou mine fire,” and we would not be having this discussion.

Frankie: I agree with Nick. I see nothing extraordinary here. Nick is something of a social dragonfly, and meets lots of people all the time, so pondering why one is a pretty Chinese chemical engineer is silly. Sooner or later, one will be. As for also being a spy, for all we know, a majority of pretty Chinese chemical engineers in the U.S. are spies. But even if only a few are, think of Littlewood’s Law of Miracles.  If you spend 10 hours a day experiencing things at a rate of one per second, that is 10 x 3600 x 30 = 1,080,000 things per month, so why be surprised if you experience something that has a probability of one in a million?    

Logan: OK, I stand chastised. No more marveling at coincidences with you guys. Now, what about Chanda Bhatt, the hôtelière in Superior?

Nick: About 60% of the hotels in the U.S. are owned or operated by people of East Indian origin, so anyone who is surprised to find an East Indian hôtelière has been  living in a cave.

Logan: What about Sordo?

Nick: These questions are ridiculous.  Why is Sordo Black?  I don’t know, I guess he was born that way, the way I was born White?  Is this another stupid argument that because a randomly selected Army retiree is more likely to be White than Black, it’s amazing that Sordo is Black? 

Frankie: I agree with Nick that this entire line of questioning is idiotic. The United States is a diverse place, and Nick runs into diverse people. Anything else?

Logan: Not right now. Let’s eat.