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Mario Puzo The Godfather www.lib.ru
Annotation The novel, published in 1969, elevated Mario Puzo to the top of the American literary Olympus.
It was an amazing triumph, and, as time has shown, the saga of the Don Vito Corleone clan still remains the best work about the mafia.
Michael was going to become a professor, but due to circumstances, he accepted the family inheritance from his deceased father.
Educated, who bravely fought in the battles of the Second World War, he becomes a powerful don, ruling his criminal community with an iron hand… ..
Mario Puzo The Godfather "Behind every wealth lies a crime..."
O. Balzac
PART ONE 1 In the building of the 3rd New York Criminal Court, Amerigo Bonasera was sitting waiting for the trial; he was eager to take revenge on the people who had brutally abused his daughter, trying to dishonor her.
The judge, a rough featured man, rolled up the sleeves of his black robe, as if he was going to personally punish the two young men sitting in the dock.
His face showed coldness and even anger.
But this was a falsehood that Amerigo felt, but at the same time could not fully comprehend.
"You acted like the last degenerates," the judge said in a hard voice.
Yes, yes, thought Amerigo Bonasera.
- Animals.
Two young men with short cropped shiny hair and clean shaven cheeks modestly lowered their eyes and respectfully bowed their heads.
The judge continued: – You acted like wild animals, and you are lucky that you did not rape the unfortunate girl, otherwise I would have put you behind bars for twenty years.
The judge paused, his eyes beneath his shaggy brows flickered slyly toward the sallow faced Amerigo Bonasera, then lowered to a stack of reports before him.
He made a face and shrugged, indicating that he was acting against his will.
– But given your youth, your impeccable past, and the unblemished reputation of your families, I sentence you to three years of probation.
Only forty years of practicing his craft did not allow a grimace of hatred to distort the face of Amerigo Bonasera.
His daughter was still in the hospital with a broken jaw, and these animals were already going free?
It all looked like a real comedy.
He looked at the happy parents and relatives who were huddled around their dear children.
Oh, now they're all happy, now they're all smiling.
The black bile, sourly bitter, rose in Bonasera's throat, overflowed through tightly clenched teeth.
He took out a white handkerchief and held it to his lips.
He stood and looked at the two brats, who confidently strode in the direction of the exit, without even deigning to him
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with a glance.
He let them pass without uttering a sound, and only pressed a clean, soap scented handkerchief more tightly to his lips.
Now the parents of these animals were passing by him two men and two women of his age, but judging by their clothes, Americans with a lot of experience.
They looked at Amerigo, and in their looks embarrassment was mixed with a strange contempt for the winners.
Losing his composure, Bonasera shouted rudely: – You will cry with me as I am crying now!
I will make you cry, as your children made me cry.
The lawyers pushed their clients to the exit and kept an eye on the young people who had turned back, trying to stand up for their parents.
The clerk of the court, a huge man, rushed to the row where Bonasera was standing, but this was no longer necessary.
All the years spent in America, Amerigo Bonasera believed in law and justice.
Now his brain was clouded with a fog of revenge, he already saw himself buying a gun and killing two scoundrels.
However, he had enough self control to turn to his wife, who still did not understand anything, and explain to her: "They have made fools of us."
After a pause, he added: "In the name of a fair trial, we will have to bow to Don Corleone."
Johnny Fontana was sprawled on a red couch, sipping Scotch straight from the bottle, occasionally washing his throat with ice water from a crystal glass.
It was four o'clock in the morning, and his imagination was feverishly drawing pictures, one more terrible than the other, of him killing his prodigal wife.
Just let him come home.
It was too late to call my first wife to ask her about the children, and it was just ridiculous to call any of my friends at a time of continuous failures.
At one time, they would have jumped with joy and pride if he had called them at four in the morning, but now they donot even hide how bored they are with him.
As he sipped his whiskey, he heard the clink of keys, but he continued to drink until his wife entered the room and was next to him.
She had the face of an angel, lively blue eyes, a delicate and fragile, but perfect in shape body.
A hundred million men were in love with Margot Ashton's face and paid to see it on the screen.
– Where the hell have you been?"
Johnny asked.
"I came straight from an orgy," she replied.
She had clearly underestimated his capabilities.
He rushed to the table and grabbed her by the throat, but the proximity of the beautiful face and blue eyes erased the remnants of anger and made him helpless again.
She made the mistake of smiling mockingly again.
At the sight of a huge fist raised above his head, she shouted: "Not in the face, Johnny!
I'm doing a movie.
She laughed.
He punched her in the stomach, and she fell.
Now he can already feel her breath and the intoxicating smell of perfume.
He slams his fists against her arms and her dark satin thighs.
He beat her just as he used to beat his peers when he was a teenager in one of the poor neighborhoods of New York.
The blows are painful, but they do not leave any traces in the form of a knocked out tooth or a broken nose.
He didnot hit her hard enough.
He couldnot hit harder, and she mocked him.
She was lying with her arms and legs outstretched, her silk skirt was pulled up above her knees, and in between bouts of laughter, she tried to make him want: - Well, come here, stick it in.
Stick it in, Johnny, because that's what you want.
Johnny Fontana stood up.
He hated the woman lying on the floor, but her beauty was her protection.
Margot turned on her side and got to her feet with the grace of a ballerina.
She began to dance around Johnny, singing like a child: "Johnny, it doesnot hurt, Johnny, it doesnot hurt."
Then, with sadness in her voice, she said – " A pathetic and unhappy freak.
Oh, Johnny, you have always been and will always remain a stupid and romantic Italian.
Even you make love like a child.
You still think that you are sleeping with a woman, like in the songs that you used to sing.
She shook her head and added: "Poor Johnny, be well.
She slipped into the bedroom and locked the door behind her.
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Johnny remained sitting on the floor, his face buried in his hands.
Hopeless despair overcame him, but the iron stubbornness that had helped him to resist more than once in the Hollywood jungle forced him to pick up the phone and order a taxi that was supposed to take him to the airport.
Only one person can save him.
He's going back to New York.
He will go to the only person who has enough strength, intelligence and love to help him.
He would go to Godfather Corleone.
The baker Nazorine, as plump and rude as his huge Italian rolls, scolded his wife, daughter Katerina and assistant Enzo.
Enzo was wearing a prisoner of war uniform with a green ribbon on the sleeve, and he was not without reason afraid that the quarrel that broke out would delay him and not allow him to get to Gouvernor Island in time.
Like thousands of other Italian prisoners of war who were granted a work permit, he lived in constant fear that this permit would be taken away.
And therefore, the little comedy that is being played out here can turn into a serious matter for him.
An angry Nazorine asks: - Have you dishonored my family?
Did you leave my daughter a gift to remember you by?
After all, you know very well that the war is over, and America will kick you out in the ass to your stinking village in Sicily!
Enzo, a short, but very strong guy, put his hand to his heart and almost cried: "Padrone, I swear to the mother of God, I have never abused your generosity.
I love your daughter with all my heart and ask for her hand in marriage.
I know that I have no rights and that if I am sent to Italy, I will never be able to return to America.
And then I wonot be able to marry Katerina.
Nazorine's wife, Philomena, entered into the argument without any frills: "Stop this nonsense," she said to her obese husband.
– You know very well what you have to do.
Leave Enzo here, send him to our relative in Long Island.
Katerina was crying.
The swollen belly and the real mustache above the upper lip greatly disfigured her.
She would never find such a beautiful husband as Enzo, never meet a man who would caress the most intimate parts of her body with such love and reverence.
– I'm going to Italy – " she screamed.
– If you donot leave Enzo here, I'll run away with him."
Nazorine gave her a sly look.
His daughter is a "hot pie".
He had once seen her rub her plump buttocks against the swollen fly of Enzo, who was standing behind her to fill the baskets with hot bread.
If he didnot take the proper steps, the bastard's hot bread would be in her oven.
We should leave Enzo in America and make him an American citizen.
Only one person is able to settle this matter.
Don Corleone.
These and many other people received printed invitations to the wedding of Miss Constance Corleone, which was to take place on the last Saturday of August 1945.
Despite the fact that the father of the bride, Don Vito Corleone, now lives in a huge magnificent house in Long Island, he never forgets his friends and neighbors.
The guests will be received at the Corleone house, and the feast will continue all day and all night.
The moment for the wedding is the most suitable.
The war with Japan has just ended, and the thoughts of parents about children fighting at the front will not be able to overshadow the fun.
A wedding is exactly what is missing at the moment for people who are eager to splash out their joy.
On Saturday morning, guests from New York City began to flock to the Corleone house.
As a gift they carried yellow envelopes filled with cash to the bride.
Each envelope was enclosed with a card with the name of the guest and with an expression of respect for the godfather.
The respect he deserved.
Don Vito Corleone was a man whom everyone came to ask for help and from whom no one left disappointed.
He never made empty promises, and never refused under the cowardly pretext that he could not fight with the powerful of this world.
It didnot matter if you were able to properly thank him for the service.
All that was needed was for you to personally declare that you were his friend.
And then it does not matter whether the petitioner is poor or rich: Don Corleone unconditionally stands up for his interests.
A reward?
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Friendship, an honorary prefix to the name - "don".
Gifts?
Symbolic, to express a sense of respect: a gallon of homemade wine or a basket of peppered pizzas baked especially for Christmas.
Such gifts show that you are the don's debtor and that he has the right to come to you at any moment and demand repayment of the debt by rendering any service.
On this great day – the day of his daughter's wedding, Don Corleone stood on the threshold of his house in Long Beach and met guests, each of whom he knew and each of whom was devoted to him.
Many of them owed their success in life to Don Corleone and allowed themselves to call him "godfather"; even the servants at the wedding were his friends.
His old friend was also a bartender, who provided drinks for the feast as a gift.
The food served on folding tables was prepared by Don Corleone's wife and her friends, and the garden paths and flower beds were decorated by the friends of her daughter – in law.
Don Corleone receives everyone – rich and poor, strong and weak – with equal honor.
He doesnot offend anyone.
Such is his character.
The guests express their delight at the sight of Don Corleone so loudly that an outsider might think that the happy groom is Don Corleone himself.
His three sons were standing at the door with him.
The older one, Santino, whom everyone except his father calls Sonny, is looked at askance by the old Italians; the young ones look at him with adoration.
Sonny was too tall for the first generation of Italian immigrants, and his huge hair made him even taller.
He had the face of a cupid with rather beautiful features, but thick and sensual arched lips and a dimple on his chin gave the impression of something obscene.
He was as strong as a bull, and besides, he was so generously endowed by nature that his wife (everyone knew this) was afraid of the wedding night, like the heretics of the Inquisition.
It was whispered that when he visited evil places in his youth, even the most sophisticated prostitutes in their business demanded double payment after a thorough study of his nature.
Here at the wedding, several young broad assed ladies with eyes full of lust were watching Sonny, but they were wasting their time.
Sonny Corleone, despite the presence of his wife and three children, had plans for his sister's girlfriend, Lucy Mancini, today.
A young girl was sitting at a table in the garden in her pink dress and a wreath on her shiny black hair.
All week during the wedding rehearsals, she flirted with Sonny, and in the morning even shook his hand during prayer.
For a girl, this is a lot.
She didnot care that he would never become as great a man as his father.
Sonny Corleone is a strong and brave man, and his heart is as big and generous as his penis.
He has a violent temperament, and this has made him make mistakes more than once.
He often helped his father in business, but many doubted whether Sonny would be able to become a worthy heir to him.
The second son, Frederico, who was usually called Fred or Fredo, was the kind of guy every Italian would dream of having as a son.
Executive, devoted, always ready to serve his father, he lived with his parents at the age of thirty.
He was a short, powerfully built man, with the cupid's head characteristic of his family, with an ugly shock of curly hair over a round face.
Fred's lips were not as sensual as his brother's, but they seemed carved out of granite.
He often fell into depression, and at the same time was always the support of his father; he never contradicted him and never upset his father with scandalous stories with women.
Despite all the advantages, Fredo did not have the charm and the animal strength that no manager can do without, and he also did not intend to inherit the family business.
The third son, Michael, was not standing with his father and brothers, but was sitting at a table in the most deserted corner of the garden.
Michael Corleone was the youngest of the don's sons and the only one who dared to go against the will of this great man.
He didnot have the face of his brothers, and his jet black hair was straight rather than curly.
His dark, olive colored skin was surprisingly beautiful and suited the girl more.
He had a kind and gentle look.
At one time, my father was even worried about the excessive femininity of the youngest of his sons.
At the age of seventeen, Michael Corleone successfully passed, however, the test of masculinity.
a night club.
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Bruno was the youngest son of Tatiaglius and did not seem to be connected with the network of brothels owned by the family.
But his nightclub was famous for long legged dancers and was the first school for many drunks in the city.
During the first meeting, Tataglia directly suggested that Brasi become the" boxing glove " of the family.
The flirtation lasted almost a month.
Luka played the role of a man in love with a beautiful and young girl, Bruno Tataglia played the role of a businessman trying to beat off a capable employee from a competitor.
During one of the meetings, Luka pretended that he was persuaded and said – " One thing should be clear.
I will never go against the Godfather.
I respect Don Corleone, and I understand that he is forced to give preference to his sons in business, and not to me.
Bruno Tattaglia was a representative of the new generation and had an aversion to such proud people as Luca Brasi, Don Corleone and his own father.
He replied – " My father didnot expect you to go against Corleone.
Why on earth?
Everyone gets along with everyone.
Not like in the old days.
It's just that if you're looking for a place, I'm ready to give it to my father.
We always need someone like you in our business.
This is a difficult case, and only with people like you, everything goes smoothly.
Let me know if you make a decision.
Luca shrugged his shoulders.
– I'm not in such a bad place right now.
Luca had to show that he knew about the drug operation and the expected profits and wanted to get a piece of this pie out of connection with the Corleone family.
Then he will be able to find out the Turk's plans, if he has any plans at all.
For example, is he going to step on Corleone's calluses?
After waiting in vain for two months, Luca informed Don that Sollozzo, apparently, was not going to take revenge.
Don ordered him to continue monitoring, but did not try to exert pressure.
Shortly before the assassination attempt on Don Corleone, Luca Brasi went to a nightclub.
Bruno Tattaglia sat down at his table: "One of my friends wants to talk to you," he said.
"Bring him here," Luka said.
– I'm ready to talk to any of your friends.
"No," said Bruno.
– He wants to talk to you face to face.
– Who is this?
Luka asked.
"Just a friend of mine," Bruno Tattaglia said.
– He wants to offer you something."
Can you meet him tonight?"
"Of course," said Luka.
– When and where?
"The club closes at four in the morning," Tattaglia said in a soft voice.
– Why donot you meet here at the same time when the waiters are clearing the tables?
Yes, they know his habits, Luka thought.
They checked it out.
He usually woke up at three or four in the afternoon, had lunch, then played cards with friends from the family or went to his girls.
Sometimes I watched a movie at midnight, and then went to have a drink in one of the nightclubs.
He never went to bed before dawn.
Therefore, the offer to meet at four o'clock in the morning was not as unusual as it might seem at first glance.
"Of course, of course," he said.
– I'll be back here by four in the morning.
He left the club and hailed a taxi, which took him to a furnished room on Tenth Avenue.
He lived with his distant relatives.
Two of his rooms were separated from the other rooms of the apartment by a special door.
This arrangement pleased him, since, on the one hand, the illusion of family life was created, and on the other hand, he was protected from an unexpected attack.
The sly fox Sollozzo is going to bare his hairy tail today, Luca thought.
– If things go too far, it can turn into a great Christmas gift for Don."
In the room, Luka took a bulletproof vest out of his suitcase, then undressed, pulled the vest over a wool T shirt and put on his shirt and jacket again.
He thought that maybe he should call Don in Long Beach and tell him about the latest events, but he knew that Don never talks to anyone on the phone, and besides, no one knew about the assignment that Luca had received – not even Hagen and Sonny.
Luka always carried a gun with him.
He had a special permit to carry a weapon – the most expensive, ever and anywhere
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issued by the police.
It cost him ten thousand dollars, but it saved him from being arrested during a search.
As one of the heads of the operational part of the family business, Luka appreciated the gun very much.
But tonight he needed a "reliable" gun.
So that they canot find out who it belongs to.
He walked towards the club, wandered along Forty eighth Street, had dinner at his favorite Italian restaurant in Patsia, when the clock struck four, entered the club.
Neither the doorman nor the cloakroom attendant was there anymore.
Bruno Tattaglia took him by the arm and led him to a bar in the corner of the hall.
Luca could make out a dance floor in the dark and a raised platform for the orchestra with a metal microphone stem on it.
Luca sat down at the bar, refused the whiskey offered by Bruno, lit a cigarette.
Perhaps we are not talking about a Turk, but about someone else.
But Sollozzo still appeared from the shadows of the far corner of the room.
Sollozzo shook Luca's hand and sat down at the counter next to him.
Tattaglia put a glass in front of the Turk, who thanked him with a nod of his head.
– Do you know who I am?"
Sollozzo asked.
Luka nodded his head in the affirmative and smiled sadly.
Mice run out of their holes.
He will be happy to deal with this traitor.
– Do you know what I'm going to ask you?"
Sollozzo asked.
Luca shook his head.
"We're opening a big business," Sollozzo said.
- I mean millions for those who are at the top.
After the first batch, I can guarantee you fifty thousand.
We are talking about drugs.
They are the future.
"Why are you addressing me? " asked Luka.
- Do you want me to talk to my don?
Sollozzo made a grimace smile.
– I've already talked to Don.
He doesnot want to participate in this.
I can do without it.
But I need a strong person for the operation.
They say that you are not too sweet in your family, and you are ready to join us.
"It depends on the conditions," Luka shrugged.
Sollozzo looked at him carefully and seemed to have made a decision.
"Think about my offer for a few days, and then we'll talk again –" he said.
He held out his hand, but Luca pretended not to notice it and put a cigarette to his mouth.
Bruno Tattaglia pulled out a lighter and held it up to Luca.
At the same time, he behaved strangely: he threw the lighter on the counter and firmly grabbed Luka's right hand.
Luca reacted immediately, trying to free himself, but Sollozzo grabbed his left elbow.
Still, Luka was stronger than both of them and would have freed himself if another man hadnot been behind them and thrown a thin silk noose around Luka's neck.
The noose tightened with force, and Luka suffocated.
His face was blue, his hands were weak.
Tattaglia and Sollozzo now had no difficulty holding him back.
They were standing in a very strange position, and the man behind pulled the noose tighter and tighter.
The last remnants of strength disappeared, and Luka collapsed to the floor.
The strangler pulled the noose with such force that it cut through the skin and disappeared into the meat.
Luka's eyes came out of their sockets and their surprised look was the only human thing left in it.
Luca Brasi is dead.
"I donot want him to be found," Sollozzo said.
– It is important that he is not found now.
He turned and disappeared back into the shadows.
8 The day following the assassination attempt was eventful.
Michael stayed by the phone and passed messages to Sonny.
Tom Hagen was busy looking for an intermediary who would satisfy both sides and allow him to arrange a meeting with Sollozzo.
The Turk suddenly became cautious: he probably knew that the" harpoons " of Clemenza and Tessio were looking for him by
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the whole city.
But Sollozzo, like the rest of the leaders of the Tattaglia family, remained in a safe hiding place all the time.
The precautions taken by Sollozzo were not unexpected for Sonny.
Clemenza was busy with the Paulo Gatto case.
Tessio was given the task of finding Luca Brasi.
Luka disappeared on the eve of the assassination attempt and has not yet shown any signs of life.
It was a bad sign.
But Sonny couldnot believe that Brasi could become a traitor or could allow himself to be caught off guard.
Corleone's wife lived in the city with family friends in order to be as close to the hospital as possible.
Carlo Ricci offered his services, but was ordered to continue working on the business given to him by Don Corleone: the most profitable gambling house in the Italian district of Manhattan.
Connie was with her mother all the time and often visited the hospital.
Fredo, still stuffed with sleeping pills, was lying in his room in his father's house.
"Jesus," Sonny said to Michael as he left Fredo's room, " you'd think he got more than the old man.
Michael shrugged his shoulders.
He had seen soldiers on the battlefield in the same condition.
But he never expected that this could happen to Fredo.
When they were all children, the middle brother stood out for his remarkable physical strength.
But he was also the most obedient son.
At the same time, everyone knew that Don Corleone was disappointed in him and did not hope that the middle son would ever take an important place in the family business.
He wasnot smart enough and he wasnot cruel enough.
He lacked courage and was a very reserved person.
Late in the afternoon, Johnny Fontana called.
Michael handed the phone to Sonny.
"No, Johnny, you shouldnot come to see the old man.
He's too sick, and it will make you bad publicity, which the old man wouldnot want.
Wait until he gets better, we'll move him home, and then you'll come to see him.
Okay, I'll give him my regards.
Sonny hung up the phone, then turned to Michael and said – " Dad will be happy.
Johnny wanted to fly I came from California to visit him in the hospital.
Late that night, one of Clemenz's men called Michael to the phone in the kitchen.
It was Kay.
– Is your father okay?"
– What is it? " she asked.
She spoke with a certain tension, not quite a natural voice.
Michael knew that she was unable to fully believe what had happened, that his father was really a "gangster", as they say in the newspapers.
"Can I come with you when you visit him at the hospital? " asked Kay.
"It's worth thinking about," he said.
– If the newspaper guys get wind of you, you'll be on page three of the Daily News."
A girl from a respected Yankee family is connected with the son of one of the mafia leaders.
How will your parents like it?
"My parents donot read the Daily News," Kay said dryly.
There was a pause, then she asked – " Are you okay, Mike, are you in any danger?"
Mike laughed again.
– I am known as the most cowardly in the Corleone family.
There is no danger.
They wonot bother chasing a nobody like me.
No, it's all over now.
There will be no more troubles.
I'll explain it to you when we meet.
– And when will this meeting take place?
Kay asked.
Michael thought about it.
– What about tonight?"
We'll have a drink and a snack at your hotel.
And then I'll go to the hospital to see the old man.
I'm tired of hanging around here and answering the phone.
Okay , but donot tell anyone about our meeting.
I donot want the reporters to catch us together.
No kidding, Kay, it wonot be very pleasant, especially for your parents.
"Okay," Kay said.
– I'll be waiting."
Do you want me to do some shopping for you for Christmas?
"No," Michael said , " just be ready.
She laughed a little excitedly.
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– I'm always ready, " she said.
– Isnot that right?"
"Yes, you're always ready –" he said.
– And that's why you're the most beautiful girl in the world.
"I love you," Kay said.
– Can you tell me the same thing?"
"No, – he said.
"Tonight, okay?"
"Okay," she said.
Michael hung up.
Clemenza had finally returned after a busy day of work and was now rushing around the kitchen, cooking tomato sauce in a huge saucepan.
Michael greeted Clemenz with a nod of his head and went into the office, where Sonny and Hagen were already waiting for him.
"Where's Clemenza?"
"He makes spaghetti for the soldiers," Michael smiled.
Sonny was annoyed.
- Let him leave this nonsense and come here.
There are more important things to do.
Bring Tessio, too.
A few minutes later, everyone was already in the office.
Sonny asked Clemenza, " Did you talk to him?"
Clemenza nodded his head in the affirmative.
– You wonot see him again.
An electric current seemed to pass through Michael's body.
He suddenly realized that it was about Paulo Gatto and that little Paulo had died, killed by a cheerful dancer.
Sonny asked Hagen, "Have you contacted Sollozzo? "
Hagen shook his head.
– It seems that he is not happy with our idea of negotiations.
In any case, he does not express much interest.
Or maybe he's just afraid of a trap.
In any case, I could not find an intermediary whom he would believe.
But he probably knows that now he will have to negotiate.
He missed his chance, giving the old man the opportunity to leave alive.
"He's a smart guy," Sonny said – " the smartest guy our family has ever had to deal with.
Maybe he realized that we are stalling and waiting for the moment when we can put a rope around his neck or when the old man will recover and take up the case himself.
Hagen shrugged his shoulders.
"Of course he understood that.
And yet he will have to negotiate.
There is no way out for him.
It will be settled tomorrow.
There was a knock on the door.
It was one of Clemenz's men.
"They just reported on the radio," he told Clemenza, " that the police have found the body of Paulo Gatto.
He died in his car.
Clemenza nodded his head and said – " Donot let it bother you.
The soldier looked at his caporegime with a look that gradually turned from surprised to understanding.
The meeting continued.
Sonny asked Hagen, – Has Don's condition changed?"
Hagen shook his head.
"Don's fine, but he wonot be able to talk for a few days.
He has not yet fully recovered from the operation.
Your mother and Connie sit next to him all day long.
The hospital is full of policemen and Tessio's people are hanging around just in case.
We will find out his opinion in a few days.
In the meantime, we must take care that Sollozzo does not make hasty steps.
That's why I want you to start negotiating a deal with him.
"So far, I've ordered Clemenza and Tessio to find him," Sonny grumbled.
– Maybe we will be lucky and we will solve the whole problem.
"No luck," Hagen said.
"Sollozzo is too smart.
He knows that at the negotiating table he will have to agree with us in most cases.
That's why he's stalling.
I believe that he wants to enlist the support of the rest of the families of the city, so we will not be able to pursue him even after the old man's order.
– Why the hell would they do that?"
Sonny's mouth twisted.
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"They will want to avoid a war that will affect everyone and force the press and the government to act," Hagen explained patiently.
- In addition, Sollozzo promises them a part of the proceeds from his operation.
And you know how much money is hidden in drugs.
The Corleone family doesnot need it, we have gambling.
But the rest of the families are hungry.
Sollozzo has managed to prove himself, they know that he is capable of acting on a large scale.
As long as he is alive, they will not stop having money in their pockets, when he dies, there will be trouble instead of money.
Michael had never seen Sonny like this before.
Cupid's mouth and tanned skin seem to have turned gray.
– I didnot give a damn about their wishes.
It is better not to interfere.
Clemenza and Tessio shifted in their chairs.
They resembled generals who were ordered to take an impregnable height at any cost.
Hagen spoke again in a somewhat irritated tone: "Leave it, Sonny, Don wouldnot agree with you.
You know what he says in such cases: "This is a waste of time."
After all, this is a business, not settling personal accounts.
If we finish the Turk, and the families interfere, we will conduct business negotiations.
Don will make concessions on other issues and we will be left alone.
But donot chase the blood just like that.
This is a business.
Even shooting your father was a business.
You should know that by now.
Sonny's eyes were still fierce.
- Okay, I understand all this.
Sonny turned to Tessio.
- Did you find out anything about Luke?
Tessio shook his head.
- Nothing.
Sollozzo must have grabbed him.
"Sollozzo wasnot bothered when it came to Luke," Hagen said quietly, " it seemed strange to me.
He's too smart not to worry about a guy like Luca.
Apparently, he somehow took him out of the game.
"Jesus, I hope Luke didnot go against us," Sonny said.
– That's the only thing I'm scared to death of.
Clemenza, Tessio, what do you think about this?
Clemenza spoke slowly, with deliberation.
- Everyone can make a mistake.
Take Paulo, for example.
But there was only one way Luka could go.
The Godfather was the only one he believed in and feared.
But not only that, Sonny.
He respected your father like no one else, and everyone who knows him respects the godfather.
No, Luka will never betray us.
On the other hand, I donot believe that even such a cunning person as Sollozzo is able to take him by surprise.
Luka didnot trust anyone or anything.
He was always prepared for the worst.
I think he's just gone somewhere for a few days and now he can show up at any minute.
Sonny turned to Tessio.
Caporegime from Brooklyn shrugged his shoulders.
- Anyone can become a traitor.
Luca was very sensitive.
Maybe Don had offended him in some way.
It could have happened.
And yet, I think Sollozzo managed to catch him off guard.
This corresponds to what the consigliori says.
We must prepare for the worst.
"The news about Paulo Gatto will reach Sollozzo soon," Sonny told everyone present.
– How will he react?
"It will make him think," Clemenza said in a sad voice.
– He'll understand that there are more than a few fools in the Corleone family.
He will understand that he was lucky yesterday.
"He was unlucky," Sonny said sharply.
- Sollozzo has been planning this operation for several weeks.
They probably followed the old man and studied all his habits.
Then they bought Paulo and maybe Luca.
At the very last moment, they kidnapped Tom.
They did everything they were going to do.
But they were unlucky.
The harpoons were faulty, and the old man was moving too fast.
If they had killed him, I would have had to make a deal, and Sollozzo would have won.
I would not have been able to pay him off earlier than in five or ten years.
So, Pete, donot say that he was lucky.
One of the "soldiers" brought a bowl of spaghetti, several plates, forks and wine.
Michael and Tom
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they didnot eat, but Sonny, Clemenza and Tessio devoured pasta with incredible speed, and even dipped bread in tomato sauce at the same time.
It was almost funny.
The meeting continued.
Tessio did not think that the loss of Paulo Gatto would anger Sollozzo; The Turk probably foresaw this in advance and may even be pleased with the news he received.
One useless mouth less in the list of salary recipients.
Killing Paulo wouldnot scare him: would they be scared themselves in a similar situation?
"I'm not good at this," Michael said uncertainly, " but everything you guys said about Sollozzo, in addition in addition to the fact that he cut off contact with Tom, makes me assume that he has prepared a surprise for us.
He is able to perform a complex operation now, after which he will again be the master of the situation.
If we can figure out his plans, the initiative will remain in our hands.
"Yes, I've been thinking about it, too," Sonny said in a dissatisfied voice, " and the only thing I can imagine is Luca Brasi.
I have already given the order to bring him here before he has time to exercise his former rights.
It may also be that Sollozzo has made an agreement with the rest of the families in New York, and tomorrow we will receive a message that in the event of war they will turn against us.
And then we will have to agree with the proposals of the Turk.
Right, Tom?
Tom nodded his head in agreement.
– I think so too.
Without a father, we will not be able to lift a finger against such opposition.
Only he can stand up against all the families.
They need his political connections, which will be a good trump card in any bargaining.
If, of course, he really wants it.
"Sollozzo will never come near this house.
The boss should not worry about this, "Clemenza said, and these words sounded rather brazen for a man whose main "harpoon" had just turned out to be a traitor.
Sonny looked at him thoughtfully, and then said to Tessio: "What about the hospital, are your people guarding it?"
For the first time since the meeting began, Tessio seemed confident.
"Inside and out," he said.
"Twenty four hours a day.
The police are also guarding it quite reliably.
Several detectives are constantly on duty near the ward, waiting for the first opportunity to interrogate the old man.
It's funny, Don still gets this substance from the tube instead of eating, and we donot have to take care of the kitchen.
After all, the Turks really believe in poisons.
There's no way they can get to the Don.
Sonny leaned back in his chair.
– They wonot touch me, they need me for a deal.
He smiled at Michael.
– I would be very surprised if they chase you.
Unless Sollozzo decides to take you as a hostage and hold you until the negotiations are over.
Michael thought with regret that his plans for meeting Kay were falling apart.
But Hagen suddenly came to his aid.
- No, he could have captured Mike long ago.
But everyone knows that Mike is not involved in the family business.
He is a "citizen", and if Sollozzo captures him, he will lose the support of the rest of the families of New York.
Even the family of Tatiaglius will be forced to support us in his capture.
No, it's pretty simple.
Tomorrow, representatives of all the families will come and say that we are obliged to make a deal with the Turk.
That's what he's waiting for.
This is his surprise.
Michael breathed a sigh of relief.
"All right –" he said – " I have to go out into the city tonight.
He smiled.
– I'm thinking of visiting my father, seeing my mother and Connie.
Besides, I have some other things to settle.
Like Don, Michael never went into details, and this time he didnot want to tell Sonny that he had to meet Kay Adams.
There was no reason to hide it, it was just a habit.
Loud voices were heard from the kitchen.
Clemenza went out to see what had happened.
He returned with a bulletproof vest of Luca Brasi, in which a huge dead fish was enclosed.
"The Turk has heard about his spy, Paulo Gatto," Clemenza said dryly.
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"And now we know where Luca Brasi is, too," Tessio replied.
Sonny lit a cigarette and took a sip of whiskey.
Michael was surprised: - What the hell does this fish mean?
– What is it? " he asked.
He was answered by the consigliori, the Irishman Hagen: - The fish means that Luca Brasi sleeps at the bottom of the sea.
This is an old Sicilian custom.
9 In a depressed mood, Michael Corleone went out into the city that night.
He felt that, against his will, he was getting more and more involved in the affairs of the family and thought with irritation that Sonny was using him as a secretary.
He participated in secret meetings of the family and everyone pretended that they could rely on him even in matters such as murder.
he took a chair and walked over to the piano.
"Hey, friend –" he said to Nino.
Nino looked up and tried to smile.
Johnny leaned over and patted him on the shoulder.
"Relax, boy.
If you do a good job, I'll arrange a meeting with the nicest and most famous piece of Hollywood's ass.
Nino drained his glass of whiskey in one gulp.
- With whom, with the Lassie?
"No, with Dinah Dan," Johnny laughed.
– I guarantee the quality of the goods.
Nino was impressed by this, but he could not restrain himself and asked: – Canot you arrange a Lassie for me?"
The orchestra played the opening melody.
Johnny Fontana was listening very carefully.
First, Eddie Nils will play all the songs with an orchestra, and then the first recording will be made.
As he listened, Johnny jotted down a few notes in a notebook.
He knew that his voice would not last long, but today Nino would do the main work, and he himself would sing along.
Except, of course, the duet of the duel, where you will have to sing in full force.
He made Nino stand up and they both went to their microphones.
Nino was late with the introduction twice in a row.
He was confused and blushed.
- Hey, do you want to work overtime?
Johnny urged him on.
"I miss my mandolin," Nino replied.
Johnny thought about it.
"Hold a glass of whiskey in your hands," he advised.
It seems to have helped.
Nino took a sip or two from time to time, but he sang well.
Johnny sang easily, without effort.
And although such singing could not satisfy him, he was himself amazed by the technique of his own performance.
Yes, ten years of singing had taught him something.
During the recording of the duet of the duel that completed the record, Johnny allowed his voice to break through, and by the end he felt pain in his vocal cords.
An unheard of thing: the harsh and experienced musicians were simply fascinated by the last song.
At the end of the recording, instead of applauding, they blew hard into their instruments and struck the strings.
The drummer burst into a magnificent impromptu.
Together with meetings and breaks, the recording lasted four hours.
Eddie Nils came up to Johnny and said quietly:
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– You werenot bad, boy.
If you want, we'll make a record.
I have a song that will suit you.
Johnny shook his head.
"Come on, Eddie, donot kid me.
In addition, after a few hours I will start to wheeze and will not even be able to talk.
Do you think there will be a lot of redoing in today's recording?
"Nino will have to come to the studio tomorrow," Eddie said after some thought.
– He made some mistakes.
But he is much better than I expected.
As for your material, I will talk to the technicians and ask them to correct everything.
Okay?
"Okay," Johnny said.
– When will it be possible to listen to the finished record?
"Tomorrow night.
At your place?
- yes.
Thanks.
Johnny took Nino's arm and they left the studio.
Evening was approaching.
Nino was still half drunk.
Johnny advised him to take a shower and then take a nap.
A big party was scheduled for eleven o'clock in the evening.
When Nino woke up, Johnny began to instruct him: "This is a party of the lonely Heart movie star club.
You've seen the beauties who will be at the party on the screen and millions of guys would give their right hand to fuck one of them.
They will come to the party with one goal: to find a guy who could put them down.
And do you know why?
They've missed it, they're just a little old.
And, like all women, they want it to be done with talent.
"What's wrong with your voice? " asked Nino.
Johnny answered almost in a whisper: "It happens every time I sing.
Now I wonot be able to sing for a month.
But the wheezing itself will disappear in a few days.
"Not too nice, huh? " asked Nino thoughtfully.
Johnny shrugged, " Listen, Nino, donot get too drunk tonight.
You have to show these beauties that my Italian friend does not have a weak penis.
You have to succeed.
Remember, these ladies can get you a job in the cinema.
Try not to lose your charm after you fuck a beauty.
Nino downed another glass of whiskey.
– I'm always charming, " he said.
Then he asked, smiling.
"Seriously, can you really get me closer to Dina Dan?"
"Donot be so keen on it," Johnny said.
– It wonot be exactly what you think.
The members of the Lonely Heart Club (so named by the young men whose presence was mandatory) gathered every Saturday at the house of Roy McElroy, the press commissioner of the Voltz International Film Company.
Despite the fact that the parties were held at the McElroy house, they were initiated by Jack Woltz himself.
Several of his best and most profitable movie stars have been aging rapidly lately.
Without special lighting tricks and the efforts of makeup artists, they would look even older than their age.
They had a lot of problems.
They have lost the sensuality that made them actresses, they have lost the ability to "fall in love".
They could no longer play women whom they passionately desire and for whom men compete.
Money, fame and former beauty made them powerful.
Voltz arranged parties in order to make it easier for them to find new lovers, who, in turn, having shown certain abilities, could become permanent partners of aging actresses and make their way to the very "top" of society.
Since it often came to fights and orgies, leading to trouble with the police.
Voltz decided to hold parties at the house of the Commissioner for Press Affairs, who will monitor the silence and give, if necessary, bribes to journalists and police officers.
For actors who have power and attractiveness, but have not yet achieved fame and fame, being present at these Saturday parties was not a very pleasant duty.
Parties were held under the pretext that a new film that had not yet been released would be shown at them.
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Young actresses were not recommended to attend parties.
The screening of the film began at exactly midnight, and by eleven o'clock Johnny and Nino were already here.
Roy McElroy seemed to be an amiable and well mannered man.
He greeted Johnny Fontane with a shout of joy.
– What the hell are you doing here?"
– What is it? " he asked with genuine amazement.
Johnny shook his hand.
– I'm showing my relative from the village the sights of Hollywood.
This is Nino.
McElroy shook Nino's hand and looked at him appraisingly.
"They'll eat him alive," he told Johnny.
He took them to the veranda, which consisted of several rooms with glass walls and doors opening onto the garden and the pool.
There were already about a hundred people in the garden, and they were all wandering around with glasses in their hands.
The masterfully selected lighting of the veranda made the women present here look beautiful and younger.
Oh, about ten or fifteen years ago, Nino saw all of them on the screen!
It was unusual to see them alive.
Nothing could hide the fatigue of their souls and bodies.
Their movements and posture were magnificent, but they resembled wax figures.
Nino drank two glasses and approached the table, on which there were rows of bottles.
Johnny came up with him.
So they stood and drank until they heard the charming voice of Dina Dan from behind.
Nino's brain (as, in fact, millions of other men) reliably stored this voice in itself.
Dina Dan won two Academy awards and starred with the most famous team in Hollywood.
But the words that she now uttered, Nino had never heard in the cinema hall.
– Johnny, you bastard, I had to go to a psychiatrist because of the night I spent with you.
Why didnot you come to me a second time?
Johnny kissed her on the cheek.
– I barely moved for a month after you, " he said.
- Meet my relative, Nino.
A strong and good guy.
Maybe he will be stronger than me.
Dina Dan gave Nino a cold, appraising look.
– Does he like early sessions?
– I donot think he had the opportunity to go to them, " he laughed.
– Why donot you take him with you?"
Left alone with Dina Dan, Nino drained a large glass of whiskey.
He tried to keep his cool, but it turned out to be a difficult task.
Dina Dun had a classic Anglo Saxon face with a straight Greek nose.
He knew her so well!
He remembers how she lay and cried about her dead husband, a pilot, who left her with young children.
He saw her angry, insulted, humiliated, but full of her own dignity.
He had dreamed about her, he had seen and heard her many times, but he was not ready for what she said when they were alone.
"Johnny's one of the few men in this town with balls," she said.
– The rest are sick idiots who put a truck with ants under their scrotum, they canot handle a beauty.
She took Nino by the arm, led him to a corner of the room and asked him to tell her about himself.
He understood her.
She played the role of a rich woman showing mercy to a groom or a chauffeur.
In the films, she either discouraged her partner from hunting (if her partner in the film was Spencer Tracy), or gave up everything for the sake of wild passion (if the partner was Clark Gable).
But it didnot matter to Nino.
He told her how he and Johnny grew up together in New York, how they sang in small clubs.
Dina Dan was a surprisingly attentive listener.
Once she asked casually: – Do you know how Johnny managed to convince Voltz to give him the role?
Nino froze and shook his head negatively.
She didnot ask any more questions.
The hour of the demonstration of the new Voltz film has come.
Dina Dan led Nino, holding his hand in her hot palm, into a windowless room where there were no chairs instead of chairs sofas for two are arranged in person.
Next to each sofa, Nino saw a table with a plate of ice on it,
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glasses, bottles with all kinds of drinks and a special tray with cigarettes.
He handed Dina Dan a cigarette, lit it, and then made a cocktail.
They werenot talking to each other anymore.
After a few minutes, the lights went out.
He was sitting in anticipation of something vile and disgusting.
There were legends about debauchery in Hollywood.
But he was not prepared for the fact that Dina Dan, without uttering a word, would pounce on his penis with the passion of a predator.
He continued to sip a cocktail and watch a movie, but his tongue felt nothing, and his eyes saw nothing.
The woman of his youthful dreams was lying at his feet.
At the same time, his manhood was insulted.
Therefore, when the famous Dina Dan was completely satisfied and straightened her clothes, he poured her a glass of cocktail, brought her a cigarette and said in an unimaginably calm voice: – And the film seems to be decent.
Nino felt her face darken.
Did she really expect a compliment from him?
Nino reached for the nearest bottle and poured himself a full glass.
Ah, to hell with it!
She treated him like a male whore.
For some reason, he felt a cold indignation against all these women.
She whispered roughly: - Donot be a saint, you enjoyed it.
You were as big as a house.
Nino took a sip from his glass and said, as if by the way, in the most natural voice: "He's always like this.
You should see it when I'm excited.
She laughed softly and was silent until the end of the film.
Finally, the movie ended and the lights were turned on.
Nino looked around.
He realized that a quiet orgy had just taken place here.
Some of the ladies ' faces were heavy, and their eyes still burned with a greedy fire.
Everyone jumped up and left the "showroom".
Dina Dan approached the old man, whom Nino recognized as a famous actor.
Now, seeing him so close, Nino realized that this guy is a pederast.
Johnny came up to Nino.
"Hey, old man, are we making a life? " he asked.
Nino grinned.
– I donot know.
This is strange.
When I get home, I can say that Dina Dan raped me.
Johnny laughed.
– She's capable of more if she invites you to her place.
Havenot you invited me yet?
Nino shook his head.
– I was too caught up in the movie, " he said.
"Be serious, boy," Johnny said.
– This lady can do a lot of good.
You usually fucked everything that came to hand.
I have nightmares when I remember the ugly people you fucked.
Nino swayed drunkenly, raised his glass and said unexpectedly loudly: "Yes, they were ugly, but they were women.
Dina Dan turned to them.
Nino raised his glass even higher, greeting her.
Johnny Fontana sighed, " Okay, you'll always be an Italian peasant.
"I'm not going to change," Nino replied with a charming drunken smile on his face.
Johnny understood him perfectly.
Nino wasnot that drunk.
He was pretending, giving himself the opportunity to say something to his Hollywood patron that he could not say in a sober form.
Johnny hugged Nino: - You clever slacker, you know that you have an iron contract for a year and now you can say and do what you want, and I canot even fire you.
– Canot you fire me?
Nino asked in a sly, drunken voice.
"No," Johnny said.
"Then fuck you," Nino said.
Johnny was surprised and angry for a moment.
He could see the carefree smile on Nino's face.
Either he has become smarter in recent years, or the fall from heaven has made him more sensitive, but at the same moment he understood Nino, understood why his former partner did not
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he has succeeded and is now trying to destroy the last chance for him.
Nino did not like the price that had to be paid for success, he was offended by everything that was being done for him.
Johnny took Nino by the arm and led him out of the manor.
Nino could barely move his legs.
Johnny spoke to him in a conciliatory tone: - Okay, boy, you will only sing for me, I want to make money on you.
I wonot interfere in your life.
Do whatever you want.
All right, friend?
All you have to do is sing for me and make money.
This is important right now, when I canot sing myself.
Have you figured it out, old man?
Nino straightened up.
"I'll sing for you, Johnny," he said.
Nino barely moved his tongue, and it was difficult to understand him.
– I sing better than you now.
I've always sung better than you, and you know it.
Johnny thought about it.
Here's the thing.
He could see Nino waiting for an answer, staggering drunkenly in the California moonlight.
"Fuck you," Johnny said in a friendly tone, and they both laughed, just like in the good old days when they were young.
When Johnny Fontana learned that Don Corleone had been shot, he began to worry not only for the health of his godfather, but also for the fate of the promised loan.
He wanted to fly to New York, but he was told that this could negatively affect his career.
He waited.
A week later, a man arrived from Tom Hagen.
A loan could be obtained, but so far only for one film.
Meanwhile, Johnny gave up custody of Nino, and he coped well with young movie stars.
Sometimes Johnny invited him to spend an evening together.
When it came to the fact that Don had been shot, Nino said to Johnny: "You know, I once asked Don to give me a job in his organization, but he didnot want to.
I was tired of driving a truck and wanted to make a lot of money.
Do you know what he told me?
He said that every person has his own purpose in life, and my purpose is to be a man of art.
He meant that I was incapable of becoming a blackmailer or a murderer.
Johnny thought about his words for a long time.
The Godfather is undoubtedly one of the most intelligent people in the world.
Yes, he realized that Nino was not capable of becoming a blackmailer or a murderer.
But how was Don to know that he would become a man of art?
"Yes, he just calculated that the day would come when I would volunteer to help Nino myself.
And how did he calculate it?
He knew that I would have to express my gratitude to him.
Of course, he would never have asked to do it himself.
He made it clear to me that I could please him with this. "
Johnny sighed.
Don is injured, in trouble.
Only Don was able to use his connections and put pressure on the jury, but the Corleone family is clearly not up to it now.
Johnny offered to help, but Hagen's answer was laconic: "No."
Johnny was busy organizing the production of his first film.
The author of the book on which the script of the film that Voltz had just shot was written, came at Johnny's invitation to talk with him face to face, without the intervention and mediation of agents and studios.
The second book was surprisingly suitable for Johnny.
He will not have to sing, there is a lot of heroism, women and sex, and most importantly one of the characters is written for Nino as if by order.
This guy spoke, behaved and even looked like Nino.
It's not even clear how this happened.
Johnny acted very quickly.
He became convinced that he knew much more about film production than he thought, but still hired a good director who could not find a job after being blacklisted by supporters of communism.
Johnny did not take advantage of this and signed a contract with the director on the usual terms.
– I hope to save more in this way, - he frankly confessed to the director.
He was very surprised when the assistant director came and said that a representative of the trade unions was demanding $ 50,000.
Johnny wondered if the assistant director was going to cheat him, and then said, " Send this guy from the unions to me.
The" union guy " turned out to be Billy Goff.
– I thought that relations with the unions were finally settled by my friend, –
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he told Goff.
– Who told you that?"
Goff asked.
"You know very well," Johnny said.
– I wonot mention his name, but if he says something, it means that it is so.
"Times have changed," Goff said, " your friend is in trouble, and his order is no longer valid.
Johnny shrugged his shoulders.
- Come back in a couple of days.
Goff smiled: "Of course, Johnny," he said.
– But it wonot help you.
The call to New York, however, helped.
Johnny talked to Hagen, and Hagen told him not to pay.
"Your godfather will be angry if he finds out that you paid even a penny to that bastard," he said to Johnny.
- Don's prestige will fall, and he canot afford it today.
"Can I talk to Don? " asked Johnny.
– Maybe you could talk to him."
I need to start working on the film.
"No one can talk to Don yet," Hagen said.
– He's very ill.
I'll talk to Sonny.
But keep in mind, I decide in such cases.
Donot pay this geek a penny.
If something changes, I'll let you know.
Johnny got very angry and hung up.
Trouble with the unions can significantly increase costs and generally put the shooting at risk.
Johnny had a fleeting thought about paying Goff secretly.
After all, if Don says something – it's one thing, and if Hagen says and orders – it's quite another thing.
But he decided to wait a few more days.
By waiting, he saved $ 50,000.
Two days later, Goff was found shot to death at his home in Glendale.
There was no more talk about labor conflicts.
Johnny was shocked by this murder.
It was the first time Don's punishing hand was so close to him.
In the weeks that followed, he spent more and more time working on the script, trial filming and production details.
Johnny Fontana completely forgot about his vote, and when he found himself on the lists of candidates at the Academy prize, he became depressed at the thought that during the prize giving ceremony, which will be shown on TV, he might be asked to sing a few songs.
But he quickly got rid of this unpleasant thought and continued to work.
Now that the godfather has lost all his influence, he has no chance of winning the prize.
But the fact that he was at least a candidate for this prize was comforting.
A record with Italian songs sung by him and Nino was released and enjoyed even more success than Johnny had expected.
However, he had to accept that it was more Nino's merit than his.
He had dinner with Ginny and the kids once a week.
Meanwhile, his second wife arranged a "Mexican divorce", and he became free again.
To the surprise of many, he did not chase easily accessible stars.
Johnny was stung by the fact that none of the young actresses who starred in his film offered to sleep with her.
But he worked hard and he was not up to such trifles.
Most often, he returned home alone, put his old records on the turntable, drank a glass or two and sang along to himself.
Once he was a really big singer, damn it!
He didnot even know how good he was.
He ruined his voice with tobacco, alcohol and women.
Sometimes Nino would come, they would listen to records together and Johnny would say contemptuously: "Listen, geek, you've never sung like that.
Nino smiled his strange smile, nodded his head and said: "No, and I never will.
A week before the start of filming of the new film, the Academy awards were presented.
Johnny asked Nino to go with him, but Nino refused.
- Listen, friend, I've never asked you for a favor in my life, right?
Johnny said.
– So do me a favor today, come with me.
You're the only one who will
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regret it if I donot get a prize.
Nino was amazed.
"If you donot get the prize," he said.
"Forget it.
Just get really drunk, I'll take care of it.
Damn it, I'm not even touching alcohol today.
Well, what do you say about such a friendship?
Evening came, and Nino kept his promise.
He came to Johnny completely sober, and they went to the hall where the ceremony was held.
Nino was surprised to learn that Johnny really did not invite any of his friends, any of his ex wives to the ceremony.
He could have invited Ginny.
Did he doubt Ginny's loyalty?
Nino prayed to God to give him the opportunity to drink at least one glass.
The evening promised to be long and boring.
The award ceremony really seemed boring to Nino Valenti, until it was time to name the best actor.
When he heard the words "Johnny Fontane", he jumped up and applauded furiously.
Everything that followed was a real nightmare.
Jack Voltz's film won all the major prizes, and crowds of reporters and crooks of both sexes poured into his studio.
Nino kept his promise: he did not drink and did not take his eyes off Johnny.
But the women vied with each other to invite Johnny into the bedroom "for a couple of words", and each time he returned more and more drunk.
The fate of the winner of the prize for the best actress was the same.
Nino was the only man at the party who disgustedly pushed her away from him.
Finally, someone came up with a brilliant idea: it is necessary to organize a public copulation of the winners of the prize.
The actress undressed, the other women attacked Johnny, tearing off his clothes.
Nino, the only sober person present, hoisted the half naked Johnny on his shoulders, fought his way to the exit and got into the car.
On the way home, Nino thought that if this is success, then he does not need it.
PART THREE 14 At the age of twelve, Don was a real man.
Short, black haired, thin, he lived in the village of Corleone, which in a strange way resembled an Arab village in Sicily.
At birth, he was named Vito Andolini.
At the end of the last century, the mafia in Sicily was the second government, perhaps even stronger than the official government in Rome.
Vito Corleone's father quarreled with one of his fellow villagers, and he turned to the mafia for help.
The father refused to obey and killed the mafia leader in a fight.
A week later, he was found dead: he was blown to pieces by a shot from a lupara.
A month after the funeral, the mafia people came for Vito.
They decided that he was too close to adulthood, and in a few years he would be able to avenge his father's death.
Relatives hid a twelve year old boy, and then sent him on a ship to America.
he took off her bathing suit, at the same time stroking her heavy breasts, and kissing her round stomach and thighs.
Naked, in each other's arms, they lay down on the bed.
She felt the shame familiar to her from the times before meeting Sonny, when her first lover walked around about how she was "too wide, down there".
When Jewel finally rolled off her, Lucy huddled in the corner of the bed and began to cry.
And all the more unexpectedly, Jewel's loud laughter and words startled her.
- Passionate and unhappy Italian, is that why you refused me all this time?
Silly, " he said.
- Silly.
This was said with such love that she turned to him, and he pressed her naked body to him and said – " You are a daughter of the Middle Ages, you are a real daughter of the Middle Ages.
His voice was soft and comforting, and she continued to cry.
"Now listen to me," he said.
– If you were born in a decent family with modern views, your problem would not have existed for many years.
Now let me name your problem: this is not a pimply skin, squinting eyes or an ugly face that can not be corrected even by plastic surgery.
It rather resembles a wart, a mole or an irregularly shaped ear.
Stop thinking about it sexually.
Stop thinking that you have a big box that will not give enough pleasure to any member, and therefore no one can love you.
You just have a pelvic defect, which we surgeons call a pelvic floor weakness.
Usually the defect appears after birth, but it can also be the cause of congenital deformity of bones and bone joints.
This is a fairly common disease, and many women suffer all their lives, while a simple operation can fix everything.
Some women commit suicide because of this.
You have a very beautiful body, and I did not assume that this is your defect.
Knowing about your relationship with Sonny, I thought it was something psychological.
But let me test you more thoroughly, and I'll tell you how much work it will take to fix the defect.
Go to the bathroom and take a shower.
When Lucy took a shower, Jewel patiently and despite her protests, forced her to lie down on the bed and spread her legs wide.
He opened his tool bag and plunged into his work.
She felt humiliated when he kissed her on the navel and absently said: "This is the first time I feel pleasure from such work.
After these words, he turned her on her stomach and inserted a finger into the anus, lovingly stroking her back with his other hand.
When he finished, he turned her back again, kissed her gently on the lips and said: "Baby, I will build you a completely new thing for the bed and personally try it out.
This will be a first class medical experiment, and I will be able to put a message about it even in official journals.
Jewel did everything with such love and humor that Lucy coped with her shame and confusion.
He even took down a medical book from the shelf and showed Lucy a similar case and
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stages of the operation.
All this interested her very much.
"It's a health issue –" he said.
– If this is not corrected in time, you will have a lot of problems with the entire genitourinary apparatus.
Without surgery, the muscles and ligaments of the pelvic area will weaken.
We should be ashamed of the fact that excessive modesty prevents doctors from making a diagnosis in such cases, and the mass of women from complaining about their vice.
"Donot talk about it.
Donot talk about it, please, " Lucy said.
She was still ashamed of her lack and was confused.
Jewel sympathized with her, although, as a doctor, he considered her experiences stupid.
He had found the right way to comfort her.
"Okay," he said.
– I know your secret now.
You often ask, what am I, one of the youngest and most capable surgeons in the States, doing in this city?
So, I do abortions.
There is nothing wrong with this, a good half of doctors do abortions.
The trouble is, I got caught.
My friend, Dr. Kennedy, with whom I once worked, promised to help me.
As far as I understand, Tom Hagen told him at the time that he could always turn to the family for help.
He talked to Hagen.
After a while, the charge was dropped, but the doctors ' union blacklisted me.
That's when the Corleone family got me a job here.
I earn good money here.
There is also a lot of work.
The girls from the variety show do not stop dating men, and if they immediately turn to me, then the abortion turns out to be very simple.
I'm scrubbing them like you're scrubbing your frying pan.
Fredo Corleone is a real savage.
By my count, he fucked at least fifteen girls here.
I'm going to talk to him all the time, man to man.
I had to treat him three times for clap and once for syphilis.
He's a real nit.
Jewel stopped.
Deliberately showing carelessness, he went against his principles.
Let Lucy know that people whom she respects and is a little afraid of – like Fredo Corleone, for example – have their own shameful secrets.
"Consider that there is a piece of plastic in your body that has lost its flexibility," Jewel said.
– We need to make it more tense and more elastic.
"I'll think about it," Lucy said, but she already knew that she would go for surgery.
Then she thought of something else.
– And how much will it cost?
– What is it? " she asked.
Jewel's brow furrowed.
– I have no conditions here for such an operation, and I am not an expert in this field.
But my friend from Los Angeles does such operations best of all and he works in a well equipped clinic.
He, in fact, operates on all movie stars, when these ladies are convinced that one pretty face will not make a man fall in love with himself.
I did him a few favors at the time, and therefore the operation will cost nothing.
I sometimes perform abortions at his request.
Listen, if it wasnot unethical, I would tell you the names of several sex bombs who performed similar operations on him.
Lucy was curious.
"Oh, tell me," she said.
"Tell me."
"All right, I'll tell you," Jewel promised.
– But you must have dinner with me, and we will spend the night together."
We have to make up for the time lost because of your stupidity.
Lucy felt a surge of tenderness for Jule and said – " You donot have to sleep with me, because you wonot get pleasure from it.
Jewel laughed.
- Stupid, how stupid you are.
Havenot you heard about other methods, more ancient, more cultured?
Are you really so naive?
– Oh, this... – she drawled.
"Oh, that's –" Jewel mimicked her.
- Decent girls donot do it, real men donot do it either.
Even in 1948.
Baby, I can take you to an old lady who lives in Las Vegas and who in 1880, I think, was the youngest "madam" in the most popular brothel in the Wild West.
She likes to remember those times.
And do you know what she told me?
Those same cowboys, men of men, always demanded "French love" or what we doctors call oral sex, and you – "oh, this".
Did it ever occur to you to do "oh, this" with your Sonny?
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For the first time, she really surprised him.
She turned to him with a smile that resembled the smile of Monna Lisa, and said softly: - Sonny and I did everything.
This was the first time she had made such a confession.
Two weeks later, Jule Segal stood in the operating room of the Los Angeles clinic and watched the movements of the hands of his friend, Dr. Frederick Kelner, who performed his work with extraordinary grace.
When Lucy lay down on the operating table, Jewel bent down to her and whispered: – I told him that you are a special girl, and he is going to build really strong walls there.
The anesthesia was already beginning to take effect, and she could not laugh or smile, but his remark somehow removed the fear of the operation.
Dr. Kelner cut with the confidence of a professional cardsharper.
Strengthening the pelvic floor had two goals.
The contraction of the ligaments was supposed to eliminate the lethargy of the muscles and organs of the pelvic cavity.
And, of course, it was necessary to lift the pelvic floor and the entrance to the vagina.
The correction of ligaments is called perincorrapy, and the stitching of the vaginal walls is called colporrapy.
Jewel noticed that Dr. Kelner was working carefully now: too deep a cut could hurt the sphincter.
Judging by the X rays and the results of the tests, Lucy's case is not too complicated.
There should be no complications, but an operation is an operation, and unforeseen difficulties are always possible.
Kelner was working on the diaphragmatic ligaments.
T - shaped forceps exposed the fascia and sphincter muscles.
Kelner's gauze covered fingers pushed the connective tissue aside.
Jewel looked at the walls of the vagina, trying to see the veins, the appearance of which would mean damage to the sphincter.
But old Kelner knew his business well.
He built a new vagina with the same ease with which a carpenter knocks down planks.
Soon he was measuring the width of the entrance, raising his blue eyes to Jewel and as if asking if it was narrow enough.
They took Lucy to the recovery room, and Jewel stayed to talk to Kelner.
Kelner was cheerful, so the operation was successful.
– There are no complications with my holes, – he told Jule.
– Nothing has grown there, the case is very simple.
She has a surprisingly flexible body for these diseases, and now she can give herself up to pleasures and games.
I envy you, young man.
Of course, you will have to wait, but then, I guarantee, you will be satisfied with my work.
Jewel laughed.
"You're a real Pygmalion, Doctor," he said.
– No, really, the work is amazing.
– It's all childish "games," Dr. Kelner grumbled.
"Like your abortions."
If society were a little more realistic, and people were like you and me, we could do more important work, and leave this one to the artisans.
By the way, I'll send a girl to you next week.
A very nice girl, such, in my opinion, most often get into trouble.
Jewel shook his hand.
"Thank you, Doctor," he said.
– Come to me, and I will make sure that you taste all the pleasures of our hotel.
Kelner smiled dryly.
– I take risks every day and I donot need roulette and dice.
I'm already facing fate too often.
You're wasting yourself out there, Jewel.
A few more years, and you will be able to forget about serious operations.
He turned and left.
Jewel knew that these words were not a reproach, but a friendly warning, but they had a great effect on him.
Knowing that Lucy would be in the ward for at least twelve hours, he went out into the city and got drunk.
When he came to the hospital the next day, he was surprised to find two men in the ward and flowers scattered all over the room.
Lucy was leaning on the pillows and beaming all over.
He was surprised, because Lucy, according to her, had long since broken off relations with her family and asked to inform them about the operation
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only in case of complications.
Fredo Corleone, of course, knew that she had gone to the hospital for a light operation; Jewel told him about it and asked for a vacation for Lucy and for himself.
Fredo immediately agreed to give them a vacation and added that the hotel would pay all her bills.
Lucy introduced the visitors, and Jewel immediately recognized one of them.
It was the famous Johnny Fontana.
The other was a tall, muscular Italian named Nino Valenti.
They both shook Jule's hand and paid no more attention to him.
They joked, recalled their childhood spent together in one of the neighborhoods of New York.
All these were conversations in which Jewel could not take part.
So he said to Lucy – " I'm going to see Dr. Kelner, and then I'll be back."
"Hey, buddy," Johnny said, " we have to go, too.
You should stay with Lucy.
Keep a good eye on her, Doc.
Jewel noticed a special hoarseness in Johnny Fontane's voice and suddenly remembered that the famous actor who won the Oscar has not performed in front of the public for more than a year.
How could it happen that the singer's voice changed at such a late age, and the press is silent about it?
Jewel loved behind the scenes secrets and continued to listen intently to Fontaine's voice, trying to determine the cause of the hoarseness.
Perhaps it was just overworked.
Maybe it's alcohol, cigarettes, or even women.
The voice sounded ugly, and it was impossible to think that it belonged to one of the best performers of beautiful Neapolitan songs.
"You seem to have a cold," Jewel said to Johnny Fontana.
"It's just fatigue, I tried to sing yesterday," Johnny replied.
- I donot think I can work anymore.
We're getting older, my friend, and the voice is changing.
He smiled at Jule, as if to say, "What's it to you?"
- And you havenot been checked by a doctor?
Maybe this is fixable?
Jewel asked.
Now Johnny Fontana was not so kind.
He gave Jewel a long, cold look.
– This was the first thing I did, two years ago.
My personal doctor is considered the best in California.
I was advised to rest a lot.
Everything is fine there, it's just that I'm getting old, and my voice changes when I get old.
Having said that, Johnny Fontana turned away from Jewel and began to entertain Lucy again.
Jewel continued to listen to his voice.
There must certainly be a tumor on the vocal cords.
But why the hell couldnot the experts determine this?
Is it really a malignant tumor that cannot be operated on?
But then there are other ways.
He interrupted Fontaine and asked him: - When was the last time you were with a specialist?
It was obvious that Fontaine was really angry, but he tried to be polite in front of Lucy.
"About eighteen months ago –" he said.
– Does your doctor examine you from time to time?
Jewel asked.
"Of course," Johnny Fontana said angrily.
– He examines me and prescribes an aerosol of codeine.
He says it's because of aging, because of alcohol, smoking and everything else.
Maybe you know more than him?
– What's his name?"
Jewel asked.
- Tucker.
Dr. James Tucker, " Fontana replied with a hint of pride in his voice.
– What is your opinion about him?
The name was familiar, it was associated in memory with famous movie stars and the best resorts.
"He dresses well," Jewel said, smiling.
Fontana was furious now.
– Do you consider yourself better than him?
– What is it? " he asked.
Jewel laughed.
– Do you sing better than Carmen Lombardo? – he asked a counter question.
He was surprised by the reaction of Nino Valenti, who laughed and started banging his head on the chair.
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The joke wasnot worth it.
Then the heavy smell of alcohol came to Jewel: this Valenti, whoever the hell he was, was just drunk.
"Hey, you shouldnot be laughing at his jokes, you should be laughing at mine," Fontana growled.
Meanwhile, Lucy moved closer to him and whispered – " He seems like a kid, but in fact he is a brilliant surgeon.
If he says he's better than Dr. Tucker, then he's better than Dr. Tucker.
Listen to him, Johnny.
A nurse came in and said it was time for them to leave.
Jewel was amused that Lucy offered Johnny and Nino her cheek for a kiss instead of lips, but they seemed to be waiting for this.
She let Jule kiss her on the lips, and then whispered: - Please come back after lunch.
He nodded his head.
In the corridor, Valenti asked him: "What kind of operation did she have?"
Jewel shook his head negatively.
– No, just a small correction of the female sewer system.
The most common thing, believe me.
I'm more worried than you are, because I hope to marry this girl.
They looked at him appraisingly, and he asked: – And how did you know that she was in the hospital?
– Fredo called us and asked us to visit her, - Fontena replied.
– We grew up in the same block.
Lucy was a bridesmaid at his sister's wedding.
"Ah," said Jewel.
He didnot tell them that he knew the whole story, and they didnot tell him anything about Sonny.
Walking down the corridor, Jewel casually said Fontana: – I'm using the rights of a visiting doctor here, why donot you let me take a look at your throat?"
"I'm in a hurry," Johnny waved him off.
"This throat is worth a million dollars," Nino Valenti said.
– He canot let every cheap doctor look into it.
Jewel noticed a smile on Valenti's face, he was clearly on his side.
Jewel said cheerfully: – I'm not a cheap doctor.
Before I was caught having an abortion, I was the best of the surgeons and diagnosticians of the East coast.
As he had expected, these words changed their attitude towards him.
By confessing to the crime, he made them believe in his qualities as a doctor.
Valenti was the first to wake up.
– If Johnny doesnot want to use your services, then I'll send my friend to you.
Not with a throat, of course.
– How much time will it take?
Johnny asked irritably.
"Ten minutes," Jewel said.
It was a lie, but such a lie he considered holy.
"Okay," Fontana said.
His voice seemed even more hoarse now.
Jewel immediately asked to clear a room for him and invite his sister.
The hospital didnot have all the necessary tools, but it was enough for the first examination.
In less than ten minutes, Jewel knew that there was indeed a tumor on the vocal cords.
Even Tucker, that cobbler and incompetent son of a bitch, should have been able to make a diagnosis.
"Jesus, this guy probably even has a work permit.
We should take it away immediately," Jewel thought.
Jewel paid no more attention to the two men.
He picked up the phone and asked the hospital otolaryngologist to come into the office.
Then he turned to Nino Valenti and said – " I think you'll have to wait a long time.
You'd better go home.
Fontaine looked at him incredulously.
– Son of a bitch, are you going to keep me here?"
– What is it? " he asked.
Jewel answered him with pleasure: "You can do whatever you want," he said.
– There's a tumor in your throat.
If you stay here for a few more hours, we will be able to determine whether this is a malignant tumor.
We will also be able to determine whether surgery is required or treatment can be dispensed with.
I'll tell you the best specialist in this field in the States, and we can bring
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he's here tonight, for your money, of course.
But you can go to your idol or sweat in search of another doctor.
If the tumor is malignant, they will cut out your entire throat and you will die.
Stay here, and everything will be settled in a few hours.
"Let's stay, Johnny," Valenti said.
– I'll call the studio.
I will only say that we are delayed.
Then I'll come back here and be with you.
The X ray and the picture of the smear under the microscope convinced Jewel of the correctness of the diagnosis.
When Johnny's throat was smeared with iodine, he vomited on a gauze swab and wanted to leave.
Nino Valenti grabbed him by the shoulder and sat him down in a chair.
When it was all over, Jewel smiled and said – " A wart."
Fontaine did not understand.
Jewel repeated it.
"Just a few warts.
We will scrape them off, as they remove the skin from the sausage.
Everything will be fine in a few months.
Valenti screamed, but Fontana was still angry.
- And how will it affect my voice, will I be able to sing?
- There is no guarantee.
But what does it matter, because you canot sing now anyway?
Fontaine looked at him with disgust.
"Boy, you donot know what you're saying.
It seems to you that you are giving me good news b, but what you're really saying is that I may never be able to sing again.
Is it true I'll never sing again?
In the end, Jule got tired of all this.
He acted like a real doctor, and it gave him pleasure.
He did this scoundrel a favor, and he behaves as if he was mortally insulted.
"Listen, Mr. Fontana," Jewel said coldly.
– I'm a doctor, and you can call me "doctor".
Not a "boy".
And I told you the good news.
When I came here with you, I was sure that there was a malignant tumor in your throat and you would soon die.
I would really hate to say that the case is hopeless, and I was glad to be able to say "wart".
Your singing has always given me pleasure, and I learned to seduce girls from your films.
You're a real actor.
But you're also a very spoiled guy.
Do you think that because you're Johnny Fontane, you canot have cancer?
Or that an inoperable tumor canot grow in your brain?
Or that you canot have a heart defect?
Maybe you think you'll never die?
All this is not so pleasant, and I advise you to walk around the hospital and sing a eulogy for warts.
Stop being stupid, and do what you have to do.
Your idol can find you a suitable surgeon, but if he enters the operating room himself, I advise you to arrest him and charge him with attempted murder.
Jewel was just leaving the room when Valenti stopped him and said – " You're a good guy, Doc, you told him everything right.
Jewel turned around and said – " Do you always load up before lunch?"
"Of course," Valenti said, and smiled.
"If you keep this up, you'll be dead in five years," Jewel said.
Valenti danced over to him.
He hugged Jewel, breathed right in his face and laughed hard.
"Five years?"
– What is it? " he asked.
"That much?"
A month after the operation, Lucy Mancini was sitting by the hotel pool, holding a glass in one hand, and with the other stroking Jewel, who was lying with his head on her stomach.
"You donot have to drink for courage," Jewel said.
– I made champagne.
– Are you sure enough time has passed?"
Lucy asked.
"I'm a doctor," Jewel said.
"Tonight is a great night.
Understand, I am the first surgeon in history to test the results of an operation performed by him.
You see, I test you "before" and "after".
I will be happy to write a report on this research in a scientific journal.
Listen: "If before the operation, pleasure was achieved only through psychological
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due to the reasons and tenderness of the surgeon, then after the operation, the congruence of the genitals of the researcher and the patient led to a rapid orgasm."
Lucy pulled his hair hard, and he had to stop.
She smiled.
– If you're not happy tonight, I can say with a clear conscience that it's your fault, " she said.
– I can vouch for my work.
I planned everything myself, and left the menial work to Kelner to do, " Jewel said.
– Now let's go rest, we have a difficult night of research ahead of us.
When they went up to his apartment – they now lived together – Lucy was waiting for a surprise: a magnificent dinner and next to a glass of champagne – a box with an engagement ring on which a huge diamond glittered.
"This is another proof of my confidence in the results of my work," Jewel said.
– Now let's go see if you're worthy of it."
He was very gentle with her.
At first she was afraid, but when she calmed down, her body was filled with such a sweet languor that she had never known.
"I did a good job," he said , "oh, yes," she whispered.
They laughed and now without words rushed into the abyss of love.
PART SIX 23 It took Michael Corleone five months in Sicily to understand people like Luca Brasi, the cruel caporegime Clemenza, to understand the unquestioning submission of his mother to his father.
In Sicily, he saw what would have become of them if they had given up the fight.
He understood Don's words, " a man has one destiny."
He understood their contempt for the authorities and hatred for people who violated the law of silence – omertu.
Michael, dressed in old shabby clothes, was transported from a ship that anchored in Palermo, to the interior of the island of Sicily, in the heart of the mafia controlled area.
The local don was indebted to his father.
In this area there was also the town of Corleone, whose name Michael's father used when he emigrated to America.
None of the relatives and friends were left here.
The women died of old age.
The men either died or emigrated some to America, some to Brazil.
And who and just to other parts of Italy.
The number of murders in this town was the largest in the world.
Michael was placed in the house of the uncle of the mafia leader.
My uncle, a seventy year old bachelor, was the only doctor in the area.
The head of the mafia (capo Mafioso), Don Tomasino, was a man of about sixty and worked as a manager of the estate (gabelotto) of one of the most aristocratic families in Sicily.
In addition to the main duties, the manager was responsible for ensuring that the poor did not demand uncultivated land, did not cross the border of the estate, – during hunting or in an attempt to cultivate the ownerless land unnoticed.
In short, Don Tomasino, for a certain bribe, protected the rich from encroachments both legal and illegal.
When one of the poor tried to take advantage of the law giving him the right to buy uncultivated land, gabelotto forced him to abandon such a thought under threat of death.
It was very simple.
Don Tomasino also owned water rights and did not allow the construction of new dams.
Such dams could also destroy the lucrative business of selling water from artesian wells, made water too cheap and generally destroyed the hardly built water economy.
Don Tomasino was an old school mafia capo and didnot want to hear about drugs or prostitution.
On this basis, he had frequent disputes with the new generation of mafia leaders, who were strongly influenced by immigrants from America, and were freed from the complexes inherent in the old generation.
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The capo mafioso was a "man with a belly", that is, he was able to inspire fear in people.
Being under his protection, Michael had nothing to fear, but at the same time it was decided to keep his identity a secret.
Michael was forbidden to go outside the estate of Dr. Tatz, Don Tomasino's uncle.
Dr. Tatsa, very tall for a Sicilian (almost six feet), was a ruddy old man with snow white hair.
Despite his seventy years, he visited the young prostitutes of Palermo once a week.
Dr. Tatz's other passion was reading.
He read everything in a row, and then ranted about what he read in the circle of his patients, who were mostly illiterate peasants and considered him a little crazy.
In the evenings, Dr. Tatsa, Don Tomasino and Michael sat in the garden, surrounded by marble statues that seemed to grow in the gardens of this island.
Dr. Tatsa liked to talk about the history of the mafia, and he found an attentive listener in Michael.
Sometimes Don Tomasino, intoxicated by the peace, the clean air of the garden and the strong wine, told stories from his own life.
In this ancient garden, Michael felt the roots from which his father grew.
He was told that the word "mafia "meant at first "shelter", and then turned into the name of an underground organization whose goal was to fight the authorities who oppressed the population of the country.
Sicily was exploited especially cruelly.
The inquisitors tortured both the poor and the rich, and the rich landowners and the leaders of the Catholic Church imposed their power on the country in every possible way.
The police were completely on their side and so solidified with the authorities that the nickname "policeman" turned into the heaviest insult for a Sicilian.
The merciless cruelty of the authorities has taught people not to betray their hatred and fear.
They have learned not to utter threats that can cause retaliatory actions.
They realized that society was their enemy and turned to the rebellious underground, the mafia, for help.
And the mafia was strengthened by creating its own law of silence – omerta.
A traveler who asked how to get to the nearest city did not receive an answer.
A member of the mafia, showing the police who had just shot at him, committed the most serious crime.
Omerta has become the religion of the people.
The woman refused to tell the police the names of the people who killed her husband and children or raped her daughter.
The authorities were not distinguished by justice, and people had to turn to the mafia.
And the mafia to a certain extent fulfilled this role.
The local capo mafioso was always ready to provide the poor with food, work and protection.
Dr. Tatsa did not say anything about the fact that the Sicilian mafia turned, after all, into a puppet of the rich, into an additional police force.
It has become an organization that taxes every enterprise, no matter how small it is.
For the first time, Michael understood why people like his father chose to become thieves and murderers rather than respected citizens of society.
These people were too freedom loving to submit to poverty and humiliation.
Sicilian emigrants in America rightly believed that the local authorities would treat them no less cruelly than the authorities of Sicily.
Dr. Tatsa offered Michael to accompany him during another visit to a brothel, but Michael refused.
His escape to Sicily deprived him of the opportunity to heal in time, and his left cheek became a constant reminder of Captain McCluskey for him.
The bones were not properly fused, and this gave his face, especially in profile, a villainous expression.
Michael had always prided himself on his beauty, and the twisted face upset him more than he could have imagined.
Michael relieved the pain that appeared from time to time with pills.
They were given to him by Dr. Tatsa, and he suggested that Michael take care of his face.
Michael had been in Sicily long enough to realize that there was no worse doctor here than Dr. Tatsa, and he flatly refused the operation.
This doctor read everything except medical literature, in which, by his own admission, he did not understand anything.
He passed the exams at the medical faculty thanks to the intervention of the capo mafioso, who specially went to Palermo to talk with the faculty professors about the assessments of his ward.
In the afternoon, Michael was walking in the garden, accompanied by two shepherds attached to the estate of Dr. Tatz.
They often earned their living by being hired to work for the mafia.
Michael thought that, by continuing to flourish, the mafia could completely destroy society.
The inhabitants of Sicily now fled to all countries of the world in search of bread and shelter.
The beauty of the local nature amazed Michael.
He walked through citrus plantations located in mountain crevices, jumped over ancient irrigation channels into which water flowed through the mouths of carved stone snakes.
The houses, built in the Roman style with huge marble gates and rooms with vaulted ceilings, were gradually destroyed and served at best as a shelter for lost goats.
On the horizon, the hills gleam like piles of gnawed bones.
Green gardens border the desert landscape with a light emerald.
Sometimes he reached the city of Corleone, whose eighteen thousand inhabitants inhabited huts scattered along the mountainside, surrounded by black stone crypts.
There had been sixty murders in the town in the past year, and death had cast a shadow over Corleone.
Accompanying Michael, the bodyguards took lupars with them.
The mafia has turned this hunting rifle into its main weapon.
The chief of police, sent to Sicily by order of Mussolini, ordered the destruction of all fences more than a meter high,so that the assassins with lupara were not able to ambush.
This did not help, and the Minister of Police solved the problem with mass arrests and exile to the islands.
The Allied troops who liberated Sicily assumed that all the people arrested by the fascist regime were democrats, and many mafiosi were appointed village elders and translators.
Thanks to this, the mafia has regained its strength.
Dr. Tatz's library had exclusively Italian books, and Michael, despite the Italian lessons he had received in college and a good knowledge of colloquial speech, had to put a lot of effort into reading.
His accent had completely disappeared from his speech and, despite the fact that he could not be considered a local resident, he was mistaken for one of those strange Italians who live on the border with Germany and Switzerland.
The curved left half of his face increased his chances of being mistaken for a native of Sicily.
The almost complete lack of medical care made such a deformity very common in Sicily – many men and even children went with scars.
Michael often thought of Kay, her smile, her body, and always felt remorse for not saying goodbye to her.
To his own surprise, he did not repent of the murder he had committed: Sollozzo tried to kill his father, and Captain McCluskey left him a gift for life.
The pain in his broken jaw was getting worse by the day, and Dr. Tatsa was more and more insistent that Michael should have surgery.
Tatsa explained that there is a nerve under the eye that branches into many small nerves, and it is this nerve that was touched by a bone fragment in Michael.
A simple operation in the Palermo hospital will save him from pain forever.
Michael refused.
When the doctor asked him why, Michael smiled and replied – " It's a souvenir from home.
The pain really didnot bother him much: it was more like a light tapping on the skull and resembled the operation of an apparatus pumping and purifying water.
It was only after seven months in the village that Michael felt really bored.
By that time, Don Tomasino had a lot of work to do, and he rarely showed up in the village.
He had trouble with the" new mafia " from Palermo, young people who profited from the post war construction.
They tried to curtail as much as possible the power of the village capo mafiosi, who were called old arrogants.
Don Tomasino was busy defending his possessions.
Deprived of his company, Michael had to be content with the stories of Dr. Tatz, which by that time began to be repeated.
One morning, Michael decided to walk to the mountains located on the other side of Corleone.
He was, of course, accompanied by both herdsmen of the bodyguard.
It wasnot just about protecting him from the enemies of the Corleone family – it was just dangerous to wander alone in this area.
The area was teeming with robbers and warring mafia groups.
He could also be suspected of stealing from pagliato.
Pagliato are thatched huts in which peasants hide tools and food.
In Sicily, the peasants do not live on the land they cultivate.
It's too dangerous, and besides, living on expensive arable land is a great luxury.
A peasant lives in a village and goes to his gardens at dawn.
Finding his pagliato empty, he feels insulted.
On this day, he cannot work, and his wife and children are left without bread.
The law turned out to be helpless, and the mafia, having taken up this problem, solved it in its own way.
She pursued and killed the Pagliato robbers.
At the same time, innocent people often suffered.
If Michael happens to be near the newly robbed pagliato, he will be mistaken for a thief.
So, one sunny morning, Michael went out for a walk, accompanied by two devoted shepherds.
One of the shepherds was a simple and ugly guy, almost an idiot.
He was silent all the time, as if he were dead, and his face was impassive, like an Indian's.
He had a thin, strong body typical of a young Sicilian, which usually gets fatter and fatter in old age.
His name was Kalo.
The second shepherd was younger than him, more active and had seen something in his lifetime.
During the Second World War, he served in the Italian Navy and before being captured by the British, he managed to get a tattoo.
The tattoo turned him into a local celebrity.
Sicilians do not often allow themselves to be tattooed – they have neither the time nor the desire for this.
Back in the village, Fabrizio did not particularly brag about his tattoo, although it reflected a theme dear to the heart of every Sicilian: a naked man and a woman were embracing on Fabrizio's hairy chest and stomach.
Fabrizio joked with Michael, asked him questions about America (it was impossible to hide Michael's true origin from them, but they did not know exactly who he was, and they understood that it was not worth gossiping about this topic) and sometimes brought Michael fresh cheese that smelled pleasantly of fresh milk.
This morning they were walking along the dusty village roads, past donkeys harnessed to carts decorated with cheerful colors.
Orange trees, almonds and olives were blooming all around, the whole earth was covered with pink flowers.
Michael thought to see a bare desert here, but he met a fertile land covered with flowers that emit the scent of lemon.
The land was so beautiful that he no longer understood the people who left it.
Apparently, people treated each other too badly, since they had to leave this paradise.
Michael was going to walk to the coastal village of Mazara, and in the evening return by bus to Corleone.
Tired, he will fall asleep easier.
The shepherds had bags full of cheese and bread; they did not even try to hide their lupars.
Michael felt the same way he used to feel when he was a child, when he went out on a summer day to play baseball.
Sicily was covered with flowers, and the scent of lemon and orange flowers was so strong that it affected Michael's immune sense of smell after being injured.
The wound had healed long ago, but the bones had fused incorrectly and were pressing on the left eye.
For the same reason, snot constantly flowed from his nose, he often filled his handkerchiefs with mucus, but even more often he blew his nose directly on the ground, according to the peasant Sicilian custom, which in childhood caused him deep disgust.
On this day, they did not reach the seashore.
After walking twenty five kilometers, Michael and the shepherds sat down in the shade of green orange trees to relax, eat their lunch and drink wine.
Fabrizio was talking about going to America one day.
When they had eaten and drunk wine, all three of them stretched out on the grass, Fabrizio took off his shirt and strained his abdominal muscles to "breathe life" into the tattoo.
And then Michael was struck by what the Sicilians call "hail".
Behind the citrus plantation stretched the green gardens of the landowners ' estates, and not far away was a villa, as if extracted from the rubble of Pompeii.
It was a real little palace with marble columns, among which a flock of village girls suddenly appeared, accompanied by two fat black clad matrons.
Following an old custom, the girls apparently fulfilled their duty to the local landowner: they cleaned the estate and prepared it for the approaching winter.
Now they went out for flowers to fill the rooms of the manor with them.
They collected bouquets of pink sulla and blue wisteria, mixing them with orange and lemon flowers.
The girls did not notice the men who were located in the shade of the trees, and went straight to them.
They were wearing cheap flowery dresses that clung tightly to their bodies.
They were not even twenty years old, but the scorching sun, which accelerates any flowering, made them mature early and
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it breathed femininity into them.
Three or four of them started in pursuit of the girl, who ran in the direction of the citrus plantation.
She held a large bunch of grapes in her hand and, tearing off a grape, fired at her pursuers.
She had jet black hair, and her body seemed to be tearing out of a tight fitting dress.
Suddenly the girl noticed men she didnot know and stopped.
She had risen on tiptoe and now looked like a deer, ready to break away and run away in a moment of danger.
Everything about her was oval – her eyes, her forehead, her face.
She had milky white skin, large dark blue eyes with long lashes that cast a shadow on her lovely face.
Her mouth was juicy, but not vulgar, and her lips were smeared with dark blue grape juice.
She was so good that Fabrizio jokingly mumbled: "Jesus Christ, take my soul, I'm dying," but there was a suspicious excitement in his voice.
As if hearing him, the girl turned and ran to her friends.
Running up to them, she turned, and her face with its beauty overshadowed the meadows covered with flowers.
The girls laughed and ran.
Driven by black clad matrons.
Michael Corleone stood motionless, his heart pounding in his chest; he felt a little dizzy.
The blood boiled in his body and beat against the tips of his fingers and toes.
All the scents of the garden – the smell of orange, lemon, grapes and flowers mixed and flooded him.
It was as if the body had separated from the soul.
Then he heard the shepherds laughing.
Fabrizio asked , patting Michael on the shoulder.
Even Kalo became friendlier.
He touched Michael's hand and said, " Calm down, man, calm down.
Fabrizio handed him a bottle of wine, and Michael took several large sips.
The wine dispelled the fog in his head.
– What are you goat lovers talking about?
– What is it? " he asked.
The shepherds laughed.
"You canot hide the hail," Kalo said.
– When you get hit, everyone sees it.
Oh, Jesus, donot be ashamed of this, many people pray to God to send them hail.
You're lucky, kid.
Michael wasnot thrilled that his thoughts and feelings could be read so easily.
But this happened to him for the first time in his life.
It wasnot like falling in love at the time of puberty, it wasnot like his love for Kay.
He longed for this girl and understood that she would haunt him forever if he did not get her.
His whole life was instantly simplified, concentrated in one point, everything else was forgotten.
During his self imposed exile, he thought about Kay all the time, even though he understood that they could never be together.
After all, he is a murderer, a mafia boss who "made bones".
But now Kay had disappeared from his mind, too.
"I'll go to the village and find out who she is," Fabrizio said hurriedly.
- Who knows, maybe she's freer than we think.
There is only one cure for hail, and you know what I mean.
The second shepherd lowered his head.
Michael didnot say anything.
He followed the shepherds, who headed for the nearest village.
The village was located around the usual square with a fountain for this area.
There were several shops in this square, a wine shop and a small tavern with three chairs on a tiny veranda.
The village seemed to have died out, and there was no one on the road except a few children and a stray donkey.
The innkeeper came out a short and fat man, almost a dwarf, who happily put a plate of peas in front of the visitors.
"You're not from around here –" he said.
– Therefore, I dare to advise you something.
Try my wine.
It was made by my sons from grapes grown by me.
They mix it with oranges and lemons.
This is the best wine in all of Italy.
They allowed him to bring a jug of wine, which in reality turned out to be even better than in words: dark blue and strong as vodka.
"I'll bet you know all the local girls," Fabrizio said to the innkeeper.
– On the way, we met several beauties, and one of them hit our friend with a hail, – and he pointed to Michael.
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The innkeeper looked at Michael with interest.
The scarred face was a common occurrence and did not deserve much attention.
But a person affected by hail is another matter.
"I suggest you take a few bottles with you, my friend," he said.
"They'll help you sleep."
"Do you happen to know a girl who has all her hair in curls? " asked Michael – " She has very light skin, very large and very dark eyes.
Is there such a girl in your village?
– No, I donot know such a girl, " the innkeeper replied shortly and left the veranda.
The three men were slowly drinking wine and, having drained the jug, wanted to order more, but the innkeeper did not appear.
Fabrizio went on a search.
When he returned, he twisted his face and said to Michael: "This is, as I thought, his daughter, and now he is boiling his blood to do us harm.
In my opinion, it is best to go immediately in the direction of Corleone.
The months Michael spent on the island could not make him get used to the special sensitivity of Sicilians in matters of gender.
But the situation seemed completely natural to both shepherds.
"The old bastard said he had two sons, big and healthy guys," Fabrizio said.
- Let's go quickly.
Michael gave him a cold look.
Before that, he was a typical young American for these shepherds, quiet and calm.
However, he was hiding in Sicily so he did something worthwhile.
Now, for the first time, they saw Corleone's gaze.
Don Tomasino, who knew more about Michael, was careful in his relations with him.
But the shepherds have their own opinion about Michael, which is not very flattering for him…
The cold look, the stern face, and the anger that came out of it like steam from ice put an end to their laughter and brusqueness.
Seeing that the attitude towards him had changed, Michael said: - Bring this person to me.
They didnot hesitate.
They took their lupars off their shoulders and entered the dark coolness of the tavern.
A few seconds later, they appeared with the innkeeper.
The dwarf didnot seem scared, but there was already a hint of caution in his anger.
Michael leaned back in his chair and stared at the man for a minute.
Then he said softly: – I understand that speaking about your daughter, I insulted you.
I'm sorry, I'm not from around here and I donot know the local customs very well.
I didnot mean to insult you or your daughter.
These words made an impression on the shepherds of the bodyguards.
Michael's voice had never sounded like that in conversations with them.
He apologized, but there was aggressiveness and self respect in his voice.
The innkeeper shrugged his shoulders and, seeing that he was not dealing with some farmhand, asked: "Who are you and what do you want from my daughter?"
Michael answered without hesitation.
– I am an American and in Sicily I am hiding from the police of my country.
My name is Michael.
You can, of course, report me to the police, but then your daughter will lose her father instead of gaining a husband.
I want to meet your daughter.
With your consent and in the presence of your family.
With respect for all decency.
I am a respected person and I am not going to dishonor your daughter.
I want to meet her, talk to her, and if we like each other, marry her.
If you donot like me, you wonot see me again.
She can count I'm unsympathetic, and there's nothing you can do about it.
Over time, you will learn everything about me that a father in law should know about a son in law.
The three men looked at Michael in surprise.
Fabrizio whispered with fear in his voice: "This is a real hail.
- Are you a friend of friends? the owner asked, recovering from a slight shock.
A simple Sicilian has no right to loudly pronounce the word "mafia", and only in this way
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how could the owner ask if Michael is a mafia.
"No," Michael said , – I'm a stranger in this country.
The innkeeper looked once more at Michael's disfigured face, at his long legs, rare in Sicily.
He looked at the shepherds, who did not hide their lupars, and remembered how they entered the tavern and said that the owner wanted to talk to him.
He grumbled at this that "the son of a bitch better get out of here," to which one of the shepherds remarked: "Believe me, you should go out and talk to him.
And for some reason he came out.
Now he knew for sure that this stranger should be treated politely.
Reluctantly, he replied, " Come back on Sunday afternoon.
My name is Vitelli, and my house is on that hill over there, above the village.
But you come here, and I'll take you to my place myself.
Fabrizio tried to object, but Michael looked at him so hard that he stopped.
This did not escape Vitelli's wary gaze.
When Michael stood up and held out his hand, the innkeeper shook it with a smile on his face.
He will ask people, and if the results of the survey are unsatisfactory, Michael will be met by his sons with lupars.
The owner himself had connections with "friends of friends", but something told him that this was a rare case that ordinary Sicilians believe in: the beauty of a daughter will bring happiness to her and the whole family.
Let it be so.
Several local young guys have already started fluttering around their daughter, and this stranger with a disfigured face will have a lot of work to do.
At parting, Vitelli gave Michael and the shepherds several bottles of cold wine.
One of the shepherds paid him off, and this again made an impression on Vitelli.
His attitude towards the guy has changed.
Michael was no longer interested in the walk.
They found a chauffeur with a car, and by dinner they were at home, where the shepherds probably immediately reported what had happened to Dr. Tatsa.
In the evening, during their usual conversation in the garden, Dr. Tatsa said to Don Tomasino: "Our friend was hit by hail.
Don Tomasino was not surprised.
"God grant that a few guys from Palermo were hit by hail," he grumbled, " then maybe I could get some rest.
He was referring to the young mafia leaders who surfaced in cities like Palermo and declared a merciless war on the fans of the old regime.
"Tell these shepherds to leave me alone next Sunday," Michael asked don Tomasino.
– I'm going to visit the girl's family, and I donot want them hanging around there.
Don Tomasino shook his head.
– Donot ask me to do this, I'm responsible for you to your father.
And more.
I heard what you said about the wedding.
I canot let you do that until I get an answer from my father.
Michael Corleone was very careful, because he was dealing with a "man of honor".
"Don Tomasino –" he said, " you know my father.
He goes deaf when he is told "no".
And his hearing does not return to him until he is told "yes".
So, he has heard "no"from me many times.
As for the shepherds, I understand everything, and they can go on Sunday with me.
But if I want to get married, I will get married.
I will not allow my father to interfere in my personal affairs, and it will be an insult to him if I allow you to do this.
The capo mafioso sighed.
Your hail is familiar to me.
She's a nice girl from a respectable family.
If you try to dishonor her, blood will be shed.
I know this family well. "
Besides, she's very young, and she might take me for an old man."
He noticed the smile on the men's lips.
– I will need a car and money for gifts.
Don nodded his head.
"Fabrizio will take care of that.
He is a smart guy and even learned to be a mechanic during his service.
I'll give you some money in the morning and let my father know what's going on.
I have to do this.
– Do you have any remedy for this damned slime?"
Michael asked Dr. Tatz.
– I donot want to blow my nose in front of a girl.
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"Before you go to the meeting, I will smear my nose with a special medicine," Dr. Tatsa replied.
– But it's not worth kissing yet.
Don Tomasino smiled.
On Sunday, Michael received a badly battered, but quite decent Alfa Romeo on the move.
Before that, he managed to visit Palermo and bought gifts for the girl and her parents.
He found out that the girl's name was Apollonia, and all evening he thought about her beautiful face and beautiful name.
He managed to fall asleep only with the help of a fair amount of wine.
The old maids were ordered to put a bottle of cold wine by his bed at night.
During the night, he emptied it too.
On Sunday morning, with the first strokes of the bells, he drove to the village and stopped the car near the tavern.
Kalo and Fabrizio and the lupars sat in the back seat – Michael did not allow them to go with him to the girl's house.
The inn was closed, but Vitelli was already waiting, leaning on the railing of the empty veranda.
They shook hands, and Michael, taking three packages with him, began to follow Vitelli up the hill.
The innkeeper's house turned out to be quite large: the Vitellis were not the last beggars.
In the apartment itself, under glass hoods, there were statuettes of the Madonna and copper candlesticks glittered.
Vitelli's two sons were also there, dressed in black suits for the occasion of Sunday.
They were two strong young men in their twenties, but they looked like they could be given more – the hard daily work affected them.
The mother turned out to be a strong woman and as plump as her husband.
There was no sign of her daughter.
Vitelli introduced the members of his family (Michael didnot even try to remember their names), and then they sat down in a room that could have been mistaken for a living room and a bedroom with equal success.
There was a great variety of furniture here, quite luxurious for Sicily.
Michael gave Signor and Signora Vitelli the gifts he had bought for them.
He gave his father a gold cigarette case, and his mother a piece of very beautiful cloth.
He continued to hold in his hand a package with a gift for the girl.
The gifts were received with cautious gratitude – they were somewhat premature – according to tradition, Michael was not supposed to give anything before his second visit.
Signor Vitelli said to him, addressing him like a man to a man: "Do not think that we are worthless and let the first person we meet into the house.
Don Tomasino personally vouched for you, and no one here doubts this man.
Therefore, you are welcome.
But I must say that if your intentions are really serious, we will need to know a little more about you and your family.
You have to understand this.
After all, your family has its roots in this land.
Michael nodded his head and politely replied: – I am ready to answer all your questions at any time.
Signor Vitelli raised his hand.
– I'm not a curious person.
Let's see first if this is necessary.
In the meantime, welcome to my house as a friend of Don Tomasino.
The medicine filled nose did not prevent Michael from smelling the presence of a girl in the room.
He turned and saw her standing at the battered door leading to the back of the house.
She gave off a fresh fragrance of flowers and lemon buds, but there were no ornaments in her jet black hair.
There was nothing on the festive dress either.
She gave Michael a quick glance, smiled at the corners of her mouth, then modestly lowered her eyes and sat down next to her mother.
Again Michael felt that he was suffocating, and for the first time he understood the meaning of the classic jealousy of the Italians.
At that moment, he was ready to kill anyone who dared to touch this girl, who would try to woo her, take her away from him.
He wanted to be her husband, as a miser wants to be the owner of gold coins.
He desired it with the same greed with which a tenant wants to become the owner of the land he cultivates.
Nothing will prevent him from becoming the husband of this girl, turning her into his property, locking her up and keeping her only for himself.
He will not allow others to see it.
When she smiled at her brother, Michael,
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without noticing it, he threw a murderous look at the young man.
The family was clearly convinced that this is a classic case of "hail", and everyone calmed down.
Until the wedding, this young man will be a blind tool in the hands of their daughter.
Then, of course, everything will change, but it doesnot matter anymore.
In Palermo, Michael had dressed up and now did not look like a poor peasant.
The Vitellis realized that he was a kind of don.
The twisted face did not disfigure him at all, as he believed; the untouched part of the face was very beautiful, and the traces of the wound could even arouse a certain interest.
Michael looked at the girl, at her round and charming face.
Her lips – he could see it clearly now – were almost blue, so dark was the blood flowing in them.
Not daring to address her by name, he said: – I saw you a few days ago near a citrus plantation.
When you were running.
I hope I didnot scare you.
The girl looked up for a second.
She shook her head.
The beauty of her eyes made Michael turn away.
The mother mockingly said to the girl: "Apollonia, talk to the young man, he has walked many kilometers to see you.
But the girl's jet black eyelashes continued to cover her eyes.
Michael gave her a gift wrapped in gilded paper, and she put it on her lap.
"Unwrap the gift," her father told her, but she didnot move.
The mother stretched out her hand, and impatiently, but at the same time carefully – so as not to damage the expensive paper – unwrapped the package.
Inside was a box covered with red velvet, and the mother stopped: she had never held such a thing in her hands and she did not immediately understand how to open it.
Finally opening the box, she took out a gift.
It was a heavy gold chain, and it frightened them not so much by its undoubted value, but by the fact that in this society gifts made of gold meant the most serious intentions.
With his gift, Michael was making an offer to the girl.
There could be no doubt about the seriousness of this stranger.
In his wealth, too.
Apollonia still hadnot touched the gift.
Her mother held the chain right up to her eyes, and then she raised her eyelashes for a moment, looked directly at Michael and said: "Grace.
It was the first time he had heard her voice.
It was a mixture of youth and modesty, and it rang in Michael's ears for a long time.
He kept turning his head to the girl's father and mother, so as not to look at Apollonia, at the sight of which he lost his head.
At last Michael rose, and so did all the members of the Vitelli family.
They politely said goodbye to him, and the girl held out her hand to him, and he felt the rough skin of a peasant woman in his hand.
Signor Vitelli escorted him to the bottom of the hill, where the car was parked, and suggested that Michael come to lunch the following Sunday.
Michael nodded, but he knew perfectly well that he couldnot wait for a whole week.
The next day he went to the village without an escort, and on the veranda of the tavern he talked with the father of Appolonia.
Signor Vitelli took pity on him and sent for his wife and daughter.
This meeting was less formal.
Apollonia seemed less shy now and talked a lot.
She was wearing a flowery everyday dress.
The next day, everything was repeated.
But this time Apollonia put on the chain she received as a gift.
This was a good sign, and Michael smiled.
They went up the hill together, the mother walking a little apart.
But suddenly, at one point, Apollonia stumbled, and Michael caught her.
Her body was so alive and hot that the blood boiled in it again and began to play in waves.
The mother smiled: her daughter is a real mountaineer, and she has not stumbled on this path since she was a baby.
This went on for two weeks.
Michael brought gifts every time and little by little Apollonia stopped being shy of him.
But they could not meet without witnesses.
She was an ordinary village girl, almost could not read and write, had no idea about what was around her, but there was some special freshness and thirst for life in her that made her
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interesting.
At Michael's request, everything was moving very quickly.
The wedding was scheduled for Sunday in two weeks.
Now Don Tomasino intervened.
He was informed from America that Michael should not be ordered, but all precautions should be taken.
Therefore, Don Tomasino appointed himself the planted father of the groom and ensured the presence of his bodyguards at the wedding.
On the Corleone side, Kahlo, Fabrizio and Dr. Tatsa were invited to the wedding.
The newlyweds will live in the villa of Dr. Tatz, surrounded by a stone fence.
The wedding was an ordinary peasant wedding.
The peasants stood by the road and showered the guests and the bride and groom with flowers.
Traditional almond sweets rained down on the wedding procession, and the remaining sweets were strewn on the bride's bed – this time symbolically, since the newlyweds were supposed to spend their wedding night outside of Corleone.
The feast lasted until midnight, but the bride and groom hurried to leave the guests and left in their Alfa Romeo .
Michael was surprised to learn that at the request of the bride, their mother was accompanying them to the villa.
His father explained to him: the girl is young, inexperienced, a little scared, and after the wedding night she will want to talk to someone.
Maybe she will have to suggest something if everything does not go well.
Such cases can sometimes be very difficult.
Michael noticed that Apollonia's large gazelle eyes were looking at him doubtfully.
He smiled and nodded his head.
So, I had to go to the villa accompanied by my mother in law.
But the old woman immediately found a common language with the servants of Dr. Tatz, hugged her daughter, kissed her and disappeared.
Michael and his fiancee went up to their huge bedroom alone.
Apollonia was still wearing her wedding dress and coat.
Suitcases were brought into the room from the car.
There was a bottle of wine and a plate of cookies on a small table.
They kept looking at the big four poster bed.
Now that they were alone, when he was her legal husband, when he could freely enjoy her face and body, which he dreamed of every night, Michael could not bring himself to move.
He watched as she took off her veil and put it on a chair, as she put a wedding wreath on a small dressing table.
There were a lot of perfume bottles and jars of cream on the table that Michael had sent here from Palermo.
The girl glanced at all this wealth with her eyes.
Believing that Apollonia was ashamed of his presence, Michael turned off the light.
Now the room was lit by a full Sicilian moon, and Michael closed the curtains, leaving only silk for air.
The girl continued to stand by the table, and Michael left the room and went to the bathroom.
Then he and Dr. Tatsa and Don Tomasino had a glass of wine in the garden.
He expected to find Apollonia in her nightgown when he returned.
He was surprised that his mother hadnot taken care of it.
Perhaps Apollonia wanted him to help her undress, but she is too shy and naive for such a bold behavior.
When Michael returned, he saw that the room was completely dark: the curtains were tightly closed.
He groped his way to the bed and saw the outline of Apollonia's body under the blanket.
He undressed and slipped under the sheet.
Then his hand touched the silky skin.
Slowly and carefully, he put his hand on her shoulder, she turned to him, and when she was in his arms, their bodies, as if electrified, joined in one line, and he kissed her hard on soft, hot lips.
She brought light to the gloomy masculine atmosphere of the estate.
Immediately after the wedding night, Apollonia sent her mother home and now sat at the head of the table, lighting up everything around with youth and beauty.
Don Tomasino dined with them every evening, and Dr. Tatsa, sitting in the garden with statues covered with flowers as red as blood, told old stories.
In the bedroom, the newlyweds spent feverish nights of love.
Michael couldnot get enough of Apollonia's marble like body, her honey colored skin, her huge eyes burning with passion.
She gave off a surprisingly fresh fragrance that constantly aroused desire in Michael.
Sometimes they fell asleep just before dawn.
Exhausted, Michael often sat on the windowsill and looked at the naked body of the sleeping Appolonia.
He had seen such faces only in paintings depicting Italian madonnas.
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In the first week after the wedding, they went out on their Alfa Romeo for short walks.
But Don Tomasino called Michael aside one day and explained to him that the wedding had spread the news about him throughout Sicily, and that special precautions must now be taken against the enemies of the Corleone family.
Don Tomasino placed an armed guard at the entrance to the estate, while Calo and Fabrizio guarded the newlyweds inside the estate.
Now Michael and his young wife almost never left the villa.
He was engaged in teaching Apollonia English and teaching her to drive a car, without leaving, of course, behind a stone fence.
Don Tomasino was very busy these days.
"He has a lot of problems with the new Palermo mafia," Dr. Tatsa was saying.
One evening, as they were sitting in the garden, an old maid came up to them.
She put a plate of olives on the table and turned to Michael.
"Is it true that you are the son of Don Corleone of New York City, the son of the godfather? "
Don Tomasino shook his head in frustration, as if telling Michael that his secret was no longer a secret.
But the old woman looked at him with such interest that he nodded his head.
"Do you know my father? " he asked.
A woman her name was Philomena, and she had a face as wrinkled as a walnut shell and protruding brown lips.
She smiled at Michael.
"The Godfather saved my life," she said.
- And the mind, too.
She pointed to her head.
It was obvious that she wanted to add something, and Michael smiled, encouraging her.
She asked with a tremor in her voice: "Is it true that Luca Brasi is dead?"
Michael nodded his head and, to his amazement, saw the joy of relief on the woman's face.
Philomena crossed herself and said: "May the Lord forgive me, but I wish his soul to burn in hell forever.
Michael remembered how curious he had been about Brasi, and suddenly felt that this woman knew the story that Tom Hagen stubbornly refused to tell him.
He poured the woman a glass of wine and made her sit down.
"Tell me about my father and Luca Brasi," he said.
– I know some things, but how did they become friends and why was Luca Brasi so devoted to his father?
Donot be afraid, tell me.
Philomena's wrinkled face and eyes turned to Don Tomasino, who signaled her to speak.
Thirty years ago, Philomena lived in a rich quarter of New York City and worked as a midwife.
Women never stopped giving birth, and there was a lot of work.
She was a good midwife and often gave advice to doctors during difficult childbirth.
The husband, who is now no longer alive, had a profitable shop.
She idolized him, even though he played cards and ran after women.
One long night thirty years ago, when all honest people were already in their beds for a long time, there was a knock on the door of Philomena's apartment.
She wasnot scared.
It was exactly that quiet hour when cautious babies prefer to appear in the sinful light.
So she calmly dressed and opened the door.
Luca Brasi, whose name was already frightening, was standing outside the door.
It was known that he was a bachelor.
Now Philomena was afraid.
She thought that Luka had come for her husband, that her husband, out of his stupidity, had refused Luka some small service.
But Luka had come for her usual business.
He said that he wanted to take her to a woman who was about to give birth.
Philomena felt that something was wrong here.
Brasi's face was burning with the fire of madness, it was felt that the devil had possessed him.
She tried to protest, said that she only delivers babies from women who consulted with her during pregnancy, but he shoved a handful of green dollars in her face and rudely ordered her to follow him.
She was too scared to refuse him.
A Ford was waiting for them on the street, driven by a guy of the same type as Luca Brasi.
Thirty minutes later, they arrived at a small brick house on Long Island.
It was a house designed for two families, but now it was inhabited by Brasi and his gang.
In the kitchen, several guys were drinking and playing cards.
Brasi led Filomena upstairs to the bedroom.
Lying on the bed was a beautiful young woman, Irish in appearance, with a painted face, red hair and a swollen stomach.
The young woman was very scared.
Skewed
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with hatred, Brasi's face was the ugliest that Philomena had ever seen in her long life (here Philomena crossed herself again).
Anyway, Brasi left the room.
Two of his people helped the midwife, and the baby was safely born.
The mother, exhausted, fell into a timid sleep.
Brasi was called, and Philomena handed him the baby wrapped in sheets.
"Take it if you're the father."
The job is done.
Brasi's eyes flashed, and the look of madness returned to his face.
"Yes, I'm his father," he said.
– But I want this whole tribe to die.
Take it down to the basement and burn it in the oven.
It seemed to Philomena that she had misunderstood.
She was surprised by the word "tribe"he uttered.
What did he mean by that?
That the child's mother is not Italian?
That she's a prostitute?
Or does he forbid everything that comes from him to live?
She thought that he was just joking cruelly, and answered briefly: - This is your child, do with it what you want.
She tried to hand him the package again.
At this time, the child's mother woke up and turned to them.
She caught a glimpse of Brasi slamming his fist into the bundle, killing the newly born baby on Philomena's chest.
The woman shouted: - Luk, Luk, I repent!
Brasi turned to her.
This, according to Philomena, was a terrible sight.
They looked like distraught animals.
There was nothing human about them.
The room was suffocating from the hatred that emanated from them.
At that moment, there was nothing else, not even a newly born child.
And at the same time, there was some kind of incomprehensible passion hovering there.
Brasi turned to Filomena: "Do what I told you," he said.
– I'll reward you."
Philomena couldnot speak out of fear.
She shook her head.
Then she managed to whisper: "Do it yourself, you're a father, do what you want.
But Brasi didnot answer.
He pulled a knife from his belt.
– I'll stab you, " he said.
Philomena did not remember how she found herself in the basement, next to a square iron stove.
She still held in her hand the bundle with the baby, which did not make a squeak (perhaps he was still alive and if Philomena pinched him, he would cry; this might have softened the monster's heart).
One of Brasi's men opened the oven door, and flames appeared.
Then they all went out, and they were left alone in the mouse smelling basement with Brasi.
He pulled out the knife again.
There was no doubt that he was going to kill her.
His face looked like the face of the devil.
He pushed her toward the open stove.
Here Philomena fell silent.
She crossed her bony arms over her chest and looked directly at Michael.
He knew what she wanted.
He knew that she wanted to tell him without words.
He asked cautiously: – Did you do that?"
She nodded her head.
Only after drinking another glass of wine, crossing herself and muttering a prayer, did she manage to continue her story.
She received a wad of money and was taken home.
She realized that she had only to mention the incident of the night, and her song was sung.
But two days later, Brasi killed an Irish woman, the child's mother, and he was arrested.
Philomena was going crazy with fear: she decided to go to her godfather and tell him everything.
Don Corleone ordered her to be silent and promised to settle everything.
At that time, Brasi had not yet worked for Don Corleone.
Even before Don Corleone was going to settle the case, Luca Brasi tried to commit suicide by cutting his veins with a piece of glass.
He was transferred to the prison hospital, and no sooner had he recovered than Don Corleone actually settled everything with the police.
There was no evidence of Luka's guilt and he was released.
Despite the fact that Don Corleone calmed Philomena, from that time on she did not know peace.
She fell ill with a nervous breakdown and could no longer work as a midwife.
She succeeded
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to persuade her husband to sell the shop, and they returned to Italy.
Her husband was a kind man; she told him everything, and he understood.
But he was at the same time a weak man, and soon they had nothing left of their hard earned fortune.
After his death, she became a servant.
After finishing her story, Philomena drank another glass of wine and said to Michael: "Your father is a great man.
He always sent me money, he saved me from Brasi.
Tell him that I pray for him every day, and he should not be afraid of death.
When she was gone, Michael asked Don Tomasino, " Is this true?"
The capo mafioso nodded his head.
No wonder no one wanted to tell me this, Michael thought.
24 The sun of Sicily, resembling a huge lemon in the morning, filled the bedroom.
Michael woke up and, feeling Apollonia's silken body pressed against him, gently woke her up.
He had already studied her all over, but he did not cease to be surprised at the perfection of her body.
Apollonia left the bedroom and went to the bathroom at the end of the corridor to take a shower and get dressed.
Michael, still naked, lit a cigarette and, warmed by the gentle morning sun, continued to lie down.
It was their last day at Dr. Tatz's estate.
Don Tomasino found them shelter in another city, on the southern tip of Sicily.
Apollonia, who was in the first month of pregnancy, wanted to stay for a few weeks at her parents ' house, and then join Michael.
The night before, when Apollonia went to bed, Don Tomasino asked Michael to stay for a conversation.
Don was worried, tired, and admitted that he was worried about Michael's safety.
"The wedding has revealed your whereabouts," he told Michael.
– I'm surprised your father didnot do anything to get you to another place.
I have a lot of problems with young Turks in Palermo.
I made them a few offers and they could wet their beaks more than they deserve, but this shit wants to get everything.
I canot understand them.
They tried to set some traps for me, but I'm not so easy to kill.
They need to understand that I'm too tough for them, but that's the whole trouble with young people, no matter what abilities they have.
They do not think about their actions and want all the water from the well.
And then Don Tomasino told Michael that two shepherds, Fabrizio and Kahlo, would go with him as bodyguards.
Don Tomasino himself must say goodbye to him now, as he leaves early in the morning on business in Palermo.
But in any case, do not tell Dr. Tatsa about this, since the old man is going to spend the evening in Palermo and may blab.
Michael knew that Don Tomasino was in a lot of trouble.
The wall around the house was surrounded by armed guards at night, and several of the most loyal shepherds with lupars were always in the house itself.
Don Tomasino went around all the time with a gun and accompanied by a personal bodyguard.
Morning so the lnce began to burn unbearably strongly.
Michael stubbed out his cigarette, put on work trousers and a beret, such as most men in Sicily wear.
Still barefoot, he leaned over the windowsill of the bedroom and saw Fabrizio in one of the chairs in the garden.
Fabrizio was idly combing his thick black hair, and his lupara was carelessly thrown on the table.
Michael whistled, and Fabrizio looked at the window.
"Bring the car," Michael shouted to him.
Where is Kalo?
Fabrizio got up.
His shirt was unbuttoned, revealing the blue and red lines of his tattoo.
"Kalo is drinking coffee –" he said.
"Is your wife coming too? "
He remembered that Fabrizio had watched Apollonia go too often in the last few weeks.
He, of course, will never make a careless step on
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in relation to the wife of Don's friend.
In Sicily, this is the most reliable step to death.
– No, she will go to her parents first, and she will join us in a few days.
He saw Fabrizio run to the stone shed that served as a garage for the Alfa Romeo.
Michael went out into the hallway and headed for the bathroom.
Apollonia was gone.
She was probably in the kitchen now, preparing breakfast with her own hands, trying to make amends with something: it seemed to her that Michael was dissatisfied with her desire to see her parents and brothers before the trip.
Don Tomasino will then take her to Michael's new hideout.
Old Philomena handed Michael coffee and shyly blessed him at parting.
"I'll remind my father about you," Michael promised, and Philomena nodded her head gratefully.
Kalo came into the kitchen and immediately went to Michael.
"The car's in the yard –" he said.
"Go get the suitcases?"
"No, I'll get them myself," Michael said.
A funny smile appeared on Kalo's face.
"She's sitting behind the wheel, eager to step on the gas.
She will be a real American even before she comes to America.
A peasant woman driving a car is unheard of in Sicily.
Michael allowed Apollonia to ride sometimes in the courtyard of the estate, but he always sat next to her, since she often pressed the gas instead of the brake.
"Bring Fabrizio and wait for me in the car," Michael said.
He left the kitchen and ran upstairs to the bedroom.
The suitcase was already packed.
Before taking it, Michael looked out the window and saw a car near the steps of the house, opposite the entrance to the kitchen.
Apollonia sat in the car with her hands on the steering wheel.
Kalo was loading the trunk with baskets of food.
Michael was angry when he saw that Fabrizio was going out of the gate on some business.
What the hell is he doing?
I'll have to teach this damned shepherd a lesson.
Michael went down the stairs and decided to stop by the kitchen again and say goodbye to Philomena for good.
"Is Dr. Tatsa still asleep?"
"What is it?" he asked the old woman.
A look of cunning appeared on Philomena's wrinkled face.
"Old roosters canot face the sun, – she said.
– The doctor left for Palermo yesterday.
Michael laughed.
He came out of the kitchen and the strong smell of lemon buds hit him in the nose.
He noticed that Apollonia was waving at him and realized that she was making a sign to him to stay where he was.
She will drive up to him by car.
Kahlo was standing next to the car, smiling.
Lupara was casually thrown over his shoulder.
There was no sign of Fabrizio.
At that moment, a powerful explosion shook everything.
The kitchen door shattered into pieces, and Michael was thrown three meters to the side, against the brick wall of the manor.
Tiles fell from the roof of the house, and one of them hit Michael painfully on the shoulder.
He had time to notice that nothing remained of the Alfa Romeo except four wheels and a steel skeleton.
He woke up in a dark room and the voices he heard were so low that he did not understand the meaning of the words
