Albert Thompson

**Albert Thompson** is the protagonist of *Trip Out of Maerika*.

## Appearance

Albert is an African American teenage boy with a tall, skinny build, dark brown skin, short curly hair, and brown eyes. He tends to wear red and white clothes.

## History

He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he grew up. However, when the Feddies revolted against the American government, his family moved to nearby Covington, Kentucky, both to avoid the war in the streets and to escape the ever-burdening bureaucracy in the United States. But as he disliked the harsh attitude of the American Federation, he left his parents to live with his cousin Steven.

He was one of the smartest students of his class, spending more time in engineering than in sports. However, his classmates' bullying made him more suspicious of other people.

One day as he was taking a walk in a forest, someone gave him a sack, with a note in English: "Build, and you can escape this world." He brought the sack to his home, and following the instructions in his note he and Jonathan built a door-frame. After properly setting up the batteries and dialing a sequence of numbers, the two boys find that it is a portal to another world.

At first, he wanted to keep it a secret so his father will not find it, but Jonathan asks him to find their friends so they can come with them and escape the Civil War ...

## Personality

He is a frank, serious lad who has been troubled by his country descending into a second Civil War.

He likes tinkering with machines and reading, and dislikes Internet memes.

## Relationships

His father was an Evangelist pastor who became more permissive as his son grew up. In spite of his tolerance, Albert dislikes him, as the latter's excessive devotion to his God made him more angry and obsessed with perfection. Upset by his family's dysfunctional condition, he decided to run away from home.

He is attracted to an artist, Esterope Garcia, who is too obsessed with her favourite characters from her favourite shows, such as Reltak. In spite of her annoying tantrums (or because of her creativity), Albert fell in love with Esterope, while she got attracted to him for being a friend while others rejected her.

His three closest friends were the homeless youngsters who stayed at his cousin's home: Shanice, Jonathan, and Garrett. Shanice likes gardening and farming, Jonathan is the son of a mechanic who became his best friend, and Garrett is a poor boy who likes playing the guitar and skateboarding with his friends. Because these three people were good friends of his, Albert wanted to find them and help them come with him and Esterope to escape America's growing chaos.

## Trivia

* Albert may be inspired by Max from Camp Camp and the Youtube artist Cilvanis.
	+ Esterope may be inspired by the fangirls of Voltron and other popular Internet shows.
	+ Garrett may be inspired by the rock band Simple Plan.
	+ Shanice and Jonathan are Black like him, while Garrett is White.
* The author chose "Covington" as a nod to the worst disaster of 2020.

## See also

* Donald Lewis, another Black character from decades ago. Possibly his inspiration or friend's relative?
* Gabriel, Minerva, and Leukia and Dorian, other protagonists of the Rinnarverse stories.