The Godfather / Крестный отец. Марио Пьюзо

my second wife laughs at me. She calls me an old-fashioned guinea, she makes fun of my singing.” He lit a cigarette. “So, Godfather, right now, life doesn’t seem worth living.”

      Don Corleone said simply. “These are troubles I can’t help you with.” He paused, then asked, “What’s the matter with your voice?”

      All the charm disappeared from Johnny Fontane’s face. He said, “Godfather, I can’t sing anymore, something happened to my throat, the doctors don’t know what.” Hagen and the Don looked at him with surprise. Fontane went on. “My two pictures made a lot of money. I was a big star. Now they throw me out. The head of the studio always hated my guts and now he’s paying me off.[37]”

      Don Corleone stood before his godson and asked grimly, “Why doesn’t this man like you?”

      “I used to sing those songs for the liberal organizations, you know, all that stuff you never liked me to do. Well, Jack Woltz didn’t like it either. He called me a Communist. Then I snatched a girl he had saved for himself. Then my whore second wife throws me out. And Ginny and the kids won’t take me back unless I come crawling on my hands and knees[38], and I can’t sing anymore. Godfather, what the hell can I do?”

      Don Corleone’s face had become cold without any sympathy. He said contemptuously, “You can start by acting like a man.” Suddenly anger changed his face. He shouted, “LIKE A MAN!” He reached over the desk and grabbed Johnny Fontane by the hair of his head. “By Christ in heaven, is it possible that you spent so much time in my presence and turned out no better than this? A Hollywood finocchio[39] who weeps and begs for pity? Who cries out like a woman – ‘What shall I do? Oh, what shall I do?’”

      Don Corleone went on. “You took the woman of your boss, a man more powerful than yourself, then you complain he won’t help you. What nonsense. You left your family, your children without a father, to marry a whore and you weep because they don’t welcome you back with open arms. You lived like a fool and you have come to a fool’s end.”

      “Now tell me the trouble you’re having with this Hollywood pezzonovante[40] who won’t let you work.” The Don was getting down to business.

      “He’s bigger than one of your pezzonovantes,” Johnny said. “He owns the studio. Just a month ago he bought the movie rights to the biggest novel of the year. A best seller. And the main character is a guy just like me. I wouldn’t even have to act, just be myself. I wouldn’t even have to sing. I might even win the Academy Award. Everybody knows it’s perfect for me and I’d be big again. As an actor. But that bastard Jack Woltz is paying me of,f he won’t give it to me. I offered to do it for nothing, for a minimum price and he still says no. He sent the word that if I come and kiss his ass in the studio, maybe he’ll think about it.”

      Don Corleone dismissed this emotional nonsense with a wave of his hand. He patted his godson on the shoulder. “You’re discouraged. Nobody cares about you, so you think. And you’ve lost a lot of weight. You drink a lot, eh? You don’t sleep and you take pills?” He shook his head disapprovingly.

      “Now I want you to follow my orders,” the Don said. “I want you to stay in my house for one month. I want you to eat well, to rest and sleep. I want you to be my companion, I enjoy your company, and maybe you can learn something about the world from your Godfather that might even help you in the great Hollywood. But no singing, no drinking and no women. At the end of the month you can go back to Hollywood and this pezzonovante will give you that job you want. Done?”

      Johnny Fontane could not altogether believe that the Don had such power. “This guy is a personal friend of J. Edgar Hoover[41],” Johnny said.

      “He’s a businessman,” the Don said. “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

      “It’s too late,” Johnny said. “All the contracts have been signed and they start shooting in a week. It’s absolutely impossible.”

      Don Corleone said, “Go, go back to the party. Your friends are waiting for you. Leave everything to me.” He pushed Johnny Fontane out of the room.

      Hagen sat behind the desk and made notes. The Don sighed and asked, “Is there anything else?”

      “Sollozzo can’t be put off any more. You’ll have to see him this week.” The Don shrugged. “Now that the wedding is over, whenever you like.”

      Hagen said cautiously, “Shall I tell Clemenza to have his men come live in the house?”

      The Don said impatiently, “For what? I didn’t answer before the wedding because on an important day like that there should be no cloud, not even in the distance. Also I wanted to know beforehand what he wanted to talk about. We know now. What he will propose is an infamita[42].”

      Hagen asked, “Then you will refuse?” When the Don nodded, Hagen said, “I think we should all discuss it – the whole Family – before you give your answer.”

      The Don smiled. “You think so? Good, we will discuss it. When you come back from California. I want you to fly there tomorrow and settle this business[43] for Johnny. See that movie pezzonovante. Tell Sollozzo I will see him when you get back from California. Is there anything else?”

      Hagen said, “The hospital called. Consigliere Abbandando is dying, he won’t last out the night. His family was told to come and wait.”

      Hagen had filled the Consigliere’s post for the past year, ever since the cancer had put Genco Abbandando in his hospital bed. Now he waited to hear Don Corleone say the post was his permanently. But so high a position was traditionally given only to a man with two Italian parents. Also, he was only thirty-five, not old enough to have the necessary experience and cunning for a successful Consigliere.

      But the Don gave him no encouragement. Then Hagen remarked, “Your new son-in-law. Do we give him something important, inside the Family?”

      He was surprised at the anger of the Don’s answer. “Never.” The Don hit the desk with the flat of his hand.

      “Never. Give him something to earn his living, a good living. But never let him know the Family’s business.”

      The Don paused. “Instruct my sons, all three of them, that they will accompany me to the hospital to see poor Genco. I want them to pay their last respects. Tell Freddie to drive the big car and ask Johnny if he will come with us, as a special favor to me.” He saw Hagen look at him questioningly. “I want you to go to California tonight. You won’t have time to go see Genco. But don’t leave until I come back from the hospital and speak with you. Understood?”

      When Johnny Fontane appeared in the garden, Kay Adams recognized him immediately. She was truly surprised. “You never told me your family knew Johnny Fontane,” she said. “Now I’m sure I’ll marry you.”

      “Do you want to meet him?” Michael asked.

      “Not now,” Kay said. She sighed. “I was in love with him for three years. I used to come down to New York whenever he sang at the Capitol. He was so wonderful.”

      “We’ll meet him later,” Michael said. When Johnny finished singing and went into the house with Don Corleone, Kay said to Michael, “Don’t tell me a big movie star like Johnny Fontane has to ask your father for a favor?”

      “He’s my father’s

37

Директор студии всегда меня недолюбливал и теперь сводит счёты.

38

приползу на коленях

39

(итал., груб.) педераст

40

(итал., сл.) шишка, выскочка, крупный бизнесмен

41

Эдгар Гувер, американский президент

42

(итал.) гнусность, подлость

43

уладить дело