Pepper's missing heart

Pepper pretends to be awkward, shy and quiet because he's not brave enough to tell people the truth ... that he doesn't really care. Also, he'll act like he can't hear them ... like they'll say something straight from the heart and he'll act like he never heard a word of it, like he'll never even acknowledge it. If they bring that up, he'll tell them he can't hear them because he doesn't have ears. ... which he doesn't, but that's besides the point. Pepper has an excuse for everything. After years of this behavior, those closest to him (and we use that term loosely) borrowed a heart detector and when Pepper fell asleep, they snuck into his house and used it on him ... Much as they had come to suspect, there were no beeps. The test was negative. No heart action whatsoever ... but lots of brain activity. Lots. Dropped Pepper on a bench down by the river in downtown Fort Lauderdale ... figured he needed a little time to reflect.