Fred was silent for a moment, and Marvin saw his face get serious. Fred looked left quickly, like he was seeing something that Marvin couldn't, or like he was trying hard to remember something. Then Fred looked back at Marvin, and smiled warmly.
"You're lucky you got stuck to my shopping carts. Otherwise, who knows what you might've gotten stuck to. Or where you'd be now."
"I'm sort of lucky that way." Marvin sat at the edge of the utility table. Next to it was a metal frame bed, or maybe it was more like a cot. Marvin glanced at it, then at Fred. A question formed in his head. "You said your shopping carts. Are you the owner of the supermarket?"
"Oh, no. Not at all. I've never owned a supermarket."
"Oh," said Marvin. He looked down at the floor.
"Sorry to disappoint you," Fred replied. Marvin wasn't sure whether he was saying it seriously or sarcastically.
"I am a little disappointed," responded Marvin. Fred looked up at him, clearly surprised. "I was actually hoping I could find out where you got the gumballs from."
Fred laughed. "Sorry, but that's not one of my jobs. Why? Are you planning another adventure?"
"No. Just interested. I like to expand my knowledge whenever I can." He looked at Fred mischievously. "And I love gumballs. I find them wonderfully attractive," he confided.
"A fatal attraction in your case." Fred laughed.
Marvin didn't know if Fred was making a joke, so he laughed too, just in case. "Don't exaggerate. It wasn't fatal. Maybe near-fatal. No, it wasn't even near-fatal. Just precarious. Besides, you came along, didn't you?"
"That's true." Fred shrugged. "But even so, you can't go around eating gumballs like that and expect to always find someone to get you out of trouble all the time." He looked at the invisible object to his left again, then at the floor, then back at Marvin. The odd look swept across his face again, like a cloud passing before the sun, then just as quickly the cloud passed and Fred was Fred again. "You need to be careful. Looking for trouble is not smart."
"Very true, but that's not my goal. Looking for trouble, I mean." Marvin sensed that Fred wasn't entirely comfortable, but as far as Marvin could tell it wasn't about him. So Marvin continued. "I just like gumballs. I like everything about them. I love them."
"You must if you wanted to eat one so big."
"That was just because it was purple. I'd never tasted one before. See? Gumballs have different flavors. They're shiny. They're bright and colorful. They're smooth. And they're spherical, like marbles, but they're not perfect spheres. They have small imperfections on the surface. Bumps, ripples. I can't tell you how sexy that is." Marvin rolled his eyes, closed them, and sighed.
"Sexy?" Fred looked embarrassed, and he looked at the floor again.
"We all have our fetishes."
"I suppose," Fred said, still looking at the floor. "But I don't understand those things."
"I hope you don't mind that I told you that."
Fred looked up again, and he thought he saw Marvin blush. He reflected for a moment, trying to remember if he'd ever seen a spider blush. He looked left, at nothing. He decided it was better not to think about it.
"No. I don't mind." Maybe it was timidity, or something else, but Fred certainly seemed vulnerable.
"Well, that was really all I wanted to say about gumballs. Unless you know the guy that brings them or buys them." Marvin looked hopeful.
"Sorry to disappoint you," Fred replied. Marvin frowned. Fred shrugged.
"So if you're not the gumball guy, what do you do around here?"
"You mean what is my job? I'm the maintenance man," Fred said. "I change lightbulbs, mop floors, place stock, and pick up the carts. Sometimes, when I'm needed, I'll do other things, too." He sounded as if he were reciting it.
"Here at the store?"
"Here, and at a few other stores in the area," Fred said proudly. "I like all the stores where I work, but this is my favorite store. I've known Mr. Williams for years, since I was very young and my parents shopped here. He was the first person to give me a job and the only person who ever really made me feel right. I have a place here."
"Mr. Williams?"
"He's the owner of the store."
"Okay. Made you feel right? How? What do you mean?"
"He's the only person who made me feel..." - Fred strained for a word - "who made me feel nothing."
Marvin was perplexed. He sat silently, waiting. Fred continued.
"Nothing. Not strange. A lot of people make me feel strange. People aren't always nice to me. Or maybe, I mean most of the time they're nice. But they don't always act normal. They talk to me differently, and some people don't talk to me much at all. I've always had that problem, since school."
"What happened?"
"I just didn't have a lot of friends. People didn't understand me, I guess. Everyone always acted strange around me. Or made me feel like I was strange." He looked away and shrugged.
"You seem fine to me."
"Thanks. I don't seem fine to everybody. At least, sometimes I don't think so." Fred looked away again, staring at something that wasn't there.
"I think everybody feels that sometimes."
"I never felt like that with Mr. Williams. Never. Mr. Williams was the only person that ever made me feel like I had a home." He gestured at the cot. "I have a place here."
"You live here?"
"No, at least not anymore," Fred answered. "I lived here a long time ago, for awhile. Now I live at my home again."
"Again? Did you leave your home?"
Fred looked left, then down, then at Marvin.
"When I needed someone, Mr. Williams was there. He let me stay here, and he was there every day. He gave me a job. He taught me things. He's the only person who's ever been there, since my parents." He looked left, hard, staring at nothing. Angry or afraid, something Marvin couldn't read. "I can find jobs and I can work at different places, but if anything ever goes wrong, I can come to Mr. Williams." Fred recited.
Marvin wanted to ask Fred about his parents, but he decided against it.
"I'm glad you have someone, Fred. And thank you for your help today."
"Well, you have someone, too. And don't think that I've forgotten to take you home."
"No, Fred. I think that's something you would never forget."
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