Alternate Reality, 1961

A Kenyan immigrant student at the University of Hawaii, Mr. Barack Hussein Obama encourages his American wife Ann Dunham to put their unborn child up for adoption rather than sidetrack her education. After a long debate, Dunham reluctantly agrees to put her son in the hands of the Salvation Army.

 

Alternate Reality, 1962

An infant hastily named Christopher Dunham spends a few months at a Salvation Army orphanage before being adopted by a middle class couple from Skokie, Illinois named Ben and Marcia Thomas. The child, casually renamed Christopher Dunham Thomas, leaves the sunny shores of Hawaii to which he will not return for nearly two decades.

 

Alternate Reality, 1967

In Mrs. Lawrence's 1st grade class at Walker Elementary School, a boy named Chris is often the victim of bullying and the casual cruelty of his classmates. They mock his large, jutting ears and call him a teacher's pet because he regularly receives excellent grades. But really, the bullying is a result of a much less innocent prejudice. Chris and his family are often subject to derision in their community because, while Chris is black, his parents are white. This has been a source of consternation in the Thomas family's life, but they are determined through a combination of courage and faith to persevere.

 

Alternate Reality, 1976

At Niles West High School, the basketball team celebrates its first victory over rival school Niles North in nearly a decade. The hero of the day is a skinny, lightning-quick point guard named Chris Thomas. With his trademark afro haircut and easy smile, Chris is one of the most popular guys in school. He's a fast favorite of the debate team and an accomplished dancer at Homecoming, but when a reporter from the student newspaper inquires about his interest in the upcoming election for class president, Chris brushes it off by saying, "Leave that popularity contest to the other guys. I just wanna go play hoop."

 

Alternate Reality, 1978

Chris Thomas, in the summer before his senior year at Niles West, finds himself at the center of a small scandal when a 14-year-old Alaskan girl visiting Illinois for a beauty pageant accuses him of making sexual advances on her. After a brief investigation, police exonerate Chris by uncovering his accuser's history of attention-seeking and pathological lying. She went on to lose the pageant and return to Alaska where she married an oil field technician and was never heard from again.

 

Alternate Reality, 1982

After a strong but unremarkable stint at Northwestern, Chris Thomas graduates with a B.A. in English and becomes a short order cook at a Chicago diner while attempting to break into the world of dramatic theater. After a few small roles, he opts to have his ears pinned back on the advice of a friend and moves to Los Angeles where he hopes to get into movies or television.

 

Alternate Reality, 1984

An important gig acting as a stand-in for Eddie Murphy in Beverley Hills Cop introduces Chris to a few key movie producers. He lands a number of notable supporting roles before getting his first lead in a small but well received independent film in 1990.

 

Alternate Reality, 2008

Long into an illustrious career as a dramatic actor, nominated for five Oscars (of which he won two) and countless Golden Globes, Christopher Dunham Thomas shares the stage with democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton at a fundraising event. Her opponent, Arizona senator John McCain, puts up stiff competition, but his running mate Michele Bachmann has little hope of stealing the female vote from Clinton. The democratic ticket gets a winning boost from the celebrity support of individuals like Thomas. Said Chris Thomas in an election night interview, "I've never been very politically-minded, but I know right from wrong. Today is a good day."