Junk Mail

Chapter Eight - Difficulties, Distress and Diseases

Pepe el and Ben took turns driving back to the multi-storey building which Ben now worked at. When one of them was driving, the other would pretend to drive in support by holding their hands in the air in front of them and making steering motions. At one point, Ben became so exhausted from all the exercise that he and Pepe el drove back the way they'd come and stopped at a toyshop so they could buy a toy car. Ben raced the toy car all over the dashboard and Pepe el's head, as Pepe el drove them all the way back to the multi-storey building again.

"It was fun meeting you, Pepe el," Ben said cheerfully. "You're like the brother I never had, except I have a brother called Wren. Conveniently, he's my sister's brother as well so we all share the same last name."

"Oh," Pepe el said jealously. "I didn't know you had a brother."

In that moment, Pepe el experienced a searing pain in his chest as his heart broke from hearing that Ben had a brother. Pepe el's relationship with his brother, Alexander Phillip Harold Monarch, was shaky at best and Pepe el had always wanted an intelligent, kind and goofy brother like Ben to hang around with. And since they'd spent the entire day together, bonding over their lack of intelligence, Pepe el thought he had felt a bond of brotherhood develop between them like a bad smell. How could it be that he had only now figured out that Ben already shared such a relationship with another man? Pepe el was so disgusted by his own hope that he almost threw Ben out of the car, like Pepe el would a burger wrapper, but he quickly realised that it wasn't Ben's fault that he had a brother. It was the fault of Ben's parents, so Pepe el decided to forgive Ben and they carried on their merry way back towards the multi-storey building Ben now worked at.

"I think we're nearly there," Ben said, breaking the silence. "Just take the next right and we should be able to park the van."

Pepe el nodded and did as Ben said. When it came to parking the van, Pepe el rammed the front of the vehicle into a tree so the engine didn't work anymore and the van was stationary. He and Ben got out just as the flames started enveloping the car, and walked round towards the entrance of the multi-storey building Ben now worked at. It was here that the two men said goodbye to each other.

"I guess I better go and give this disc to Mr Andrew Davis sir," Ben said, pulling the CD out of his pocket and patting it fondly. "He'll be happy to have it, I suppose. And then I'll go home and get some rest. It was nice meeting you, Pepe el, and I suppose I'll see you around when I do other special missions, buddy."

Pepe el nodded tearfully. "I'll miss you too, Ben man. Actually, I need to go visit Papa in Mexico next week, so I probs won't see you in a while. And I heard some pudgy little guy is gonna build a wall, so it might take a while for me to break through that and get back into England."

Ben thought about correcting Pepe el and telling him that the wall was actually going to be built in a different country, but didn't want talks of walls to be the basis of their last conversation in a while. Ben went to hug Pepe el who went to hug him back, and they both held their outstretched arms in position without actually coming into contact with each other for about a minute. Then the two both gave each other a goofy smile and each went on their merry way.

Ben walked into the building and past the receptionist's desk (where the grumpy receptionist was no longer present) and continued on towards and into the lift until he reached level negative five. It was here that he treaded along his usual journey in the dark and reached the glowing triangle, which Andrew Davis sat upon.

"Did you get the disc?" Andrew Davis asked as soon as he saw Ben, who handed over the disc. "Good. This is great! I can't believe I'm saying this, but you actually did a good job for once even if it did take you the entire day. Well done... "