Pepe had been kept in a warm, dark but comfortable place for what seemed an eternity. Then suddenly a bright light appeared; his hitherto comfortable existence had ended. He looked around at all the masked shapes in wonderment -- flashes of light appeared before it went dark again. He wondered what on earth was going on as he lay there quietly, wondering what would happen next and as he did so, he took the opportunity to rest.
Little did he know, this was something Pepe would have to get used to. Then there was a bright light, a metallic flash which was followed by an intense pain. What had he done to deserve this, he asked of himself -- the pain was excruciating and then it went dark again. All he could do was to lie there and imagine what next and what would become of him. Again, he rested and healed; he gradually became a lot more sensitive to his surroundings - sometimes it was dark and sometimes there was light. He liked the light. Often times he lay quietly in a cushion of dry warmth, feeling at peace and suddenly, apparently without reason, his bliss would be shattered as the dry warmth disappeared. Strange smells appeared to surround him and the stench became over-powering. He was powerless to do anything about it. It would not be long before his discomfort would be replaced by the dry softness and clean scents and he would be returned to his resting place, he was most happy then. He loved to be dry. Although the periodic aromas seemed to be quite a regular occurrence, he grew to learn that they were to be short lived and he would soon be dry during which he would see the light again before being plunged into darkness once again. He looked forward to the light time. Pepe was beginning to understand this curious light and dark world in which he was living and as he was getting used to this routine until one day he saw himself in a mirror -- he was not alone!
He found something attached to him, an odd looking shape, of enormous proportions. It was Pepe's host. What was odd, was that it moved independently of Pepe and seemed to carry him around to wherever it wanted to go. His first sight of his host was very brief and unfortunately subsequent sightings were rare. Pepe lay there in his quiet darkness thinking; this 'thing' seemed to be harmless and it was not altogether unsightly, just odd looking!
Pepe's life soon entered a regular routine alternating between wet and dry, light and dark, unfortunately punctuated with brief interludes of suffocating smells which were inevitably and fortunately, a prelude to absolute luxury. This routine continued until one day Pepe's quality of life improved -- he was able to see the light a lot more often and now the claustrophobic darkness amid unpleasant sporadic odours soon became only a distant memory for him. Life was becoming pleasant as he often experienced the great outdoors, the fresh air and the sunny warmth of the big yellow light in the sky. He had accepted his host whom he often saw in the mirror and it seemed to be getting bigger each day ... but Pepe was not! He saw similar 'hosts' around and he began to learn quickly. Two large appendages below him seemed to be able to take him anywhere and everywhere. Pepe liked his adventuresome host. These idyllic moments of joy ended when Pepe was again plunged into, what seemed to be, interminable periods of darkness; he slept most of the time and only occasionally did he ever see light. He looked forward to these little events but they were always too short. Sometimes he would be plunged into warm sweet smelling water, which he loved -- it reminded him of his life before he saw the light for the first time. But it was also during this time he made some friends.
They seemed to hang around in groups and always five at a time. They sometimes wrestled with him and other times and smothered with a foam which smelled heavenly. He grew close to two of them in particular, Tom and Frank. They would regularly visit him and free him from his dank prison and gave Pepe a quick peek of the outside world. Pepe was always relieved to see Tom and Frank, but thought it odd their three other pals never came close, but simply stayed in the background. All seemed to be well in the world outside his confinement and he soon grew accustomed to this somewhat solitary existence.
As time passed, Pepe remembered little except the loneliness. He noticed that his host seemed to be getting larger and firmer but Pepe was not! Tom and Frank were getting bigger too and they weren't visiting him quite so often, adding to Pepe's seemingly solitary existence. He questioned his purpose in life or perhaps how he fitted into the grand scheme of things until he noticed that he was not entirely alone. They seemed to have sneaked up on him from below when he had least expected it. They too were small and appeared shy at first. One day, they introduced themselves as Bill and Ben and were twins. Pepe explained much of what he had learned over the years to Bill and Ben and over the ensuing years they soon became close friends. Pepe became their window to the events going on outside their world; the twins hardly ever saw the light. Tom and Frank came to visit occasionally but as always, their other three pals still kept very much too themselves.