Sorry. We're getting a little ahead of ourselves here. When last we left Marvin, he was in no position to chew. So let's backtrack a bit.
He had spent hours waiting, somewhat impatiently, by a parked car. He had not done so by choice; it was simply where he had rolled to, and then stopped. He lay at a strange angle, half on his side, half on his back, if his spherical body could be said to have a side or a back. At least he hadn't stopped face down.
Marvin prided himself on his patience (for most things) and also for his primarily rosy outlook on life. However, his patience was now wearing paper thin, and he had come to the inevitable conclusion that there was no way he was ever going to move from this spot by simply waiting for the gumball in his mouth to dissolve. True, the hard sugar coating had softened somewhat, but the overall size and shape of the gumball had barely changed, and thus neither had the size and shape of his body. He was feeling bloated. And he was tired of being immobile. But what could he do? The time had come to figure something out. But how?
Fortune smiled on him, however, before he could come up with a solution. While thinking through possible action plans, Marvin heard a clackety, rattly, metallic sound drifting in and out of earshot. Now the sound seemed to be coming towards him. He looked around as best he could to determine what it was.
The source of the sound turned out to be a man pushing a long, snakelike row of shopping carts before him, one within the other like a stack of paper cups that had fallen over - except made of metal and with wheels. Maybe not like a stack of paper cups at all. But Marvin wasn't concerned with accurate similes at this juncture. He was too focused on whether this potential encounter was a blessing or a danger.
As the man zigzagged around the parking lot, he would stop from time to time to retrieve a stray cart. Each time he stopped, the carts would clack-clack-clack forward in a wave, separating and lengthening the concatenation of carts, reminding Marvin of a Newton's cradle. The man would then grab the new member, add it like a caboose to the end of his train, and push it all forward again, clack-clack-clacking the carts back into one another. Marvin was glad for the distraction. But he still didn't know whether this was a fight or flight situation. He was hoping it wasn't the latter. The man was now near the door to the supermarket, where Marvin had first gotten himself into this predicament. The man added another cart to his collection and started back in Marvin's direction.
When he reached the slope in the driveway, the cart-train began to pick up a bit of speed as gravity pulled at the front of the train. The man guided it toward the next stray cart, about twenty feet from where Marvin rested. The cart-train snaked a bit to the left, then a bit to the right as it was steered down the incline.
As the man brought his metallic, reptilian vehicle to within a few feet of the remaining cart, - it's moving rather quickly now, Marvin thought - he pulled on the last cart in the chain. The carts went clackclack clack-clack, clack clack, clack. The wave moved down the line of carts, slowing as it went. The snake stretched forward, reaching toward Marvin, but the carts held together. The man started toward his quarry. Marvin, who couldn't do anything else, blinked in relief.
Clack. Clack. Clack clack. Clackclackclack...
The two front carts in the chain disconnected from the main body like a slow-motion projectile head, separating from the front of the snake, obeying the laws of momentum. Rattling as they went, they rolled forward, picking up speed. Four sets of wheels rolled over Marvin, and the carts rolled on, scraping along the side of the nearby car and leaving a deep scratch as they went, until finally they came to a full stop by the driver's side door.
KEE-RRRUNCH! went Marvin.
SCEE-RRRATCH! went the car.
SHEE-IT! went the man.
Marvin was dazed, and a bit flattened, but otherwise unharmed. The man, meanwhile, had abandoned his quest and was flailing his arms and moving toward the runaway carts, thus coming closer to Marvin. And he was upset.
Marvin, in his spherical form, felt suddenly and horribly conspicuous. Afraid for his life, he did what any rational spider would do in a situation like this. He chewed. Frantically.
Which brings us to the present. Or at least to where we mistakenly started this chapter.
As sore as his jaw was becoming, it felt like the mass in his mouth was subsiding and he was slowly returning to his normal shape. But still not enough so that he could do the one thing he most desperately wanted to do: spit it out. He swore he would never eat another gumball, purple or otherwise, for as long as he lived.
Well maybe he couldn't spit, but then something else occurred to him. Maybe he could just blow a bubble and force the gum outside of his body that way. He took a deep breath and started blowing.
(Just one moment for a quick interruption. At this point, some smart-ass - sorry, I meant to say extremely clever and observant - readers may be thinking "How, if Marvin was nearly incapable of moving, and if he was so full of gum that he couldn't even spit it out, how did he ever manage to inhale?" Well, the answer is simple: through his nose. So let's not be so literal and just enjoy the story, shall we?)
Before long he had blown a very large bubble. And the larger it got, the more Marvin could feel his body returning to normal. Also, the more he could feel the wind tugging at the bubble, and hence him. Well, this hadn't exactly been his plan, but at least now he might have found a way to get carried away from this puddle-ridden, car-polluted driveway. He blew harder, and the bubble grew. Then along came a strong gust and he was airborne. Flying. Free at last.
The wind blew him and his bubble directly into the main row of shopping carts. The bubble caught on a handle and started to lose air, spreading a sticky purple web over the handle as it settled. The man watched, incredulous.
"Was that GUM?!" he shouted. "Just what I needed." He was apparently unaware of the small, eight-legged figure attached to the gummy purple blob. "You've gotta be kidding me. All right, kids! Where are you?" The man looked around for possible culprits while Marvin and his gum slowly deflated. Seeing no one, the man looked back at the carts, sighing. "And I was almost done for the day. Now I've gotta clean that off."
He walked back over to the last stranded cart, brought it back and added it to the rest, and then went back to retrieved the viper's metal head. It had done a real job on the side of the car, but he wasn't saying anything to anyone. He walked the two meddlesome carts toward the back, rolling them past and to the end of the long serpentine column. He glanced at the sticky purplish mess as he passed, and sighed again.
"Gonna need kerosene for that."
Marvin flinched.
Within moments the carts jarred together and the snake was in motion again. The man whistled as he shoved the carts forward, rounding the store and pulling up next to a service entrance at the side of the building. He opened the door and walked through, the door closing behind him.
Marvin could feel his legs again. He tried to move, but he quickly realized that he was mostly stuck to the handle of the cart. He was also mostly purple.
The door opened again and the man reappeared, carrying a medium sized metal canister and a rather filthy cloth. He popped a small protective cap open on the canister and tipped it into the cloth. A smell like gasoline filled Marvin's nostrils. The man moved toward him, brandishing the cloth.
"Let's see what we can do here while it's still fresh."
The man rubbed at the splotches, bringing away gum and dirt. He folded the cloth over and rubbed again at a new area. Then he saw Marvin.
"Well now, you poor little thing." The man moved his face closer to Marvin. "What are you doing there? You sure were in the wrong place at the wrong time." He thought back to the scratched car, and the wayward bubble. "Sort of like me, I guess. Well, you look pretty well stuck there. Let's see if there's any way to unstick you."
"Could you? THANK YOU!" Marvin couldn't help himself. The words flew from his mouth before he could stop them.
The man squinted. Marvin flinched again.
"Did you just say that? To me?" the man asked sternly.
"Yes," Marvin replied meekly. Maybe he had been a bit rash.
The man studied him. "Okay. Just making sure I wasn't hearing things. I'll do what I can."
"You're not surprised that I spoke to you?"
"Why should I be? I've worked odd jobs all over this town for nearly thirty years. It would take a lot to surprise me these days. Now hold still and let me see what I can do."
"I'm not going anywhere. Clearly. What's your name?"
"Me? Fred."
"My name's Marvin."
"Pleased to meet you, Marvin." Fred took a toothbrush out of his breast pocket, squirted it with kerosene, and brushed lightly at one of Marvin's legs. "Okay, I think we're getting somewhere."
"Fred?"
"Yes, sir."
"When we're done here," Marvin began slowly, "would it be too much to ask if you could help me with one more thing?"
"What's that? You're a small guy. Your problems can't be that big."
"Could you help me find a friend?"
"I'll do what I can."
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