Physical Statistics
Hair: Red, but heavily streaked with grey and white. Usually worn parted to one side; is on the longer side
Eyes: Light brown
Complexion: Fair; his skin has a slight bit of brown to it, but he sunburns easily
Height: 6’ 0” (182 cm)
Build: Average; he’s gained some weight in recent years, but is still in good health
Other: Has reading glasses

Mental Statistics
Strengths: Patient; level-headed; healthy; agile (for his age); supportive; decisive
Weaknesses: Opinionated; bossy; self-critical; overly defensive when his mental health is called into question; sarcastic
Favourites:  Food: Ham
    Colour: Navy blue
    General: His wife, his family, books, the outdoors, fishing
Least Favourites:   Food: Rice
    Colour: Grey
    General: War stories, war, Samuel’s attitude, televised sports

Personality: Alexander is quite friendly and talkative, yet at the same time sarcastic and easily irked. He cannot comprehend how people can do things that, to him, are so ridiculous. To his family and close relations, he is quite a likeable man who treats them with respect. He is fond of joking around with people, and is quite the storyteller. To strangers or people he knows on a distant, professional level, he is still polite, though more apt to show annoyance, particularly at childish antics.

Family Statistics
Mother: Mary Catherine Barlow: Born August 20, 1910 in Bristol, England; died June 20, 2005 in London, England. Mary was a kind yet strict woman who kept a close eye on all of her children. As she grew older, she slowly started going senile, and in 1995 she was placed in a nursing home by her son William, for her own good. Near the end of her life, her memory was quite lacking; it saddened Alexander to see her in such a state.
Father: James Paul Dessler: Born March 5, 1907 in London, England; died December 17, 1982 in London, England. James left to fight in World War II when Alexander was two, and as such, Alexander didn’t really know his father very well throughout his early childhood. James returned from the war when Alexander was eight, and it was somewhat awkward for Alexander. The distance between the two was gradually resolved, though, and the two were quite close. He died of natural causes in his home in 1982.
Sibling(s): Henry Adam Dessler: Born November 4, 1933. Henry taunted Alexander occasionally, causing a few fistfights between them, but between the threat of their mother using the cane on them and feeling the pain that was caused when they actually did fight, there weren’t many outbursts. They generally got along in later years. Since Alexander left for Canada, they haven’t kept in contact much.

Henrietta Elizabeth Bloxham (née Dessler): Born November 4, 1933. Henry’s twin sister. Alexander generally avoided her, not caring too much about girls, but when she was older she delighted in teasing her younger brother by forcibly dragging him off to imaginary tea parties in her room, much to Henry’s amusement and Alexander’s disgust. Henrietta married a Canadian man, and went to live in Canada with him. She visits Alexander occasionally, but more often he has to visit her due to her failing health.

William Thomas Dessler: Born December 22, 1946. Due to being born after the war, there was quite a large age gap between him and his three other siblings. Alexander, who was nine, and the twins, who were eleven, didn’t like being woken at night by a baby’s crying and such, and for a while William was the unknowing target of resentment by the other children. As they grew older, they tended to ignore William, having better things to do than play with small children. As a result, William seems even more distanced from his siblings.

Spouse: Anne Bernadette Spencer: Born April 2, 1938 in rural England. Anne is a very soft-hearted woman, and it is quite apparent than Alexander cares deeply for her. She is devastated whenever Samuel berates her for being “gullible”, even though Alexander reassures her that she’s not. She’s quite motherly.
Children: Samuel James Dessler: Born July 7, 1962 in Toronto, Canada. Samuel always seemed too smart for his own good, and in later years developed quite the ego. He currently teaches at the University of Western Ontario as an assistant professor of English. He regards his parents with a mixture of love and disdain: he calls his mother overprotective and being soft-hearted to the point of being gullible; his father is repeatedly ridiculed for believing “wild fantasy tales”. He has also repeatedly implied that Alexander is losing his hold on reality and should be placed in a nursing home.

Catherine Mary Dessler: Born March 31, 1965. Catherine gets along more harmoniously with her parents than her older brother ever did. She currently works as a nurse at a nearby hospital, but visits her parents frequently.

Edward Robert Dessler: Born September 1, 1967 in Toronto, Canada. Edward and Samuel were always very competitive, which led to the two of them going their own ways. Edward currently is a police officer, and quite enjoys his job. He visits his parents often, but still doesn’t get along with Samuel.

Background
Alexander’s childhood was not a happy one, as far as he could tell. World War II started when he was only two and living in London, he was subject to various unpleasant occurrences; his mother refused to send her children to the countryside. After London was bombed in September, she quickly changed her tune and arranged privately for her children to be sent to Canada.

Alexander’s time in Canada was relatively pleasant; he and his sister had been placed with a very kind foster family, the Soucherous; his brother was only a few doors down. But despite that, he was lonely, and was slowly starting to slip off into his own world. That was around the time he met Eric – in 1942, to be precise. He had been playing in the branches of a tree but had fallen out, landing hard and passing out. During that period of unconsciousness he met Eric, who calmly explained that he was Alexander’s previous life. (Alexander didn’t quite understand this idea, not being familiar with reincarnation).

Eric stayed with him, acting as a sort of imaginary friend. His foster parents thought he would grow out of it, but Alexander didn’t really want to. To him, Eric understood him far better than his brother or sister. But time went on; the Dessler children returned to London in early 1946 and by that point Alexander was thinking perhaps the time of imaginary friends was drawing to a close, as he had school and friends to make there. But Eric didn’t go away.

His ‘friend’ remained with him throughout his life, but it was only when he was eighteen did Eric really reveal his true purpose, though he had dropped hints before and entertained him with stories of some old kingdom. From Alexander’s point of view, it was simply a tale of revenge, and by that part, he wasn’t particularly interested in fairy tales anymore, having to work.

In the late 50s he met Anne Spencer, but it was only until she moved to London in 1959 that he saw her more often, and he was quite taken with her. They married in September of 1961 and Alexander, remembering his pleasant time in Canada, thought about moving there, quietly encouraged by Eric.

Within the next decade they had three children, and Alexander was torn between working and raising them. During this time Eric did not mention his plan much, though he was happy to supply whatever information Alex asked of him; Alexander was beginning to suspect that perhaps this whole thing wasn’t simply in his own head.

It was when Eric, with some difficulty, was able to procure him something physical – a coin and a page of his own journal, written in a language he didn’t understand, that he was convinced. Not long afterwards Eric persuaded him that starting the plan might have been a good idea – just wait a little while longer, he had hold him. Little did Alexander know that he would wait nearly twenty years.

Aside from the strange phenomenon that was Eric, Alexander enjoys his life so far.

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