Гарри Грей – Once Upon a Time in America (The Hoods) / Однажды в Америке (Бандиты) (страница 6)
I shrugged. “So what?”
Maxie laughed and patted me on the back. “Yep, I forgot, you got Pipy’s knife.” “My knife.”
“Yep, your knife. It makes you feel good to have something like that handy, hey, Noodles?”
I nodded. “Yeh, it makes you feel like you’re somebody.”
“I’m going to get something to carry around myself,” Maxie said. He picked up a cigar butt from the sidewalk. He put it in the corner of his mouth. “Someday I’m going to get me a revolver. I’ll ask the Professor.”
He handed me the butt. I smoked it awhile, then passed it back to him.
The Professor held the door open for us. “Everything all right? You boys delivered it?” he asked anxiously.
“Yep, everything’s all right, we delivered it.” Maxie spat on the floor. He puffed on his cigar stub. I looked coldly at the Professor.
He laughed and gave us a dollar apiece. “You kids will go a long way.”
“Yeh, Professor, we’re looking to make money. We need it,” I said. “You boys will make plenty, and I’ll show you how.”
“You’re the Professor,” Maxie wisecracked.
He chuckled, and rubbed his hands. “Yes, yes, I can teach you lads plenty of tricks, maybe, for our mutual benefit.”
“Hey, Professor, can you get me and Noodles a couple of rods[83]?” “Rods?” The Professor was surprised.
He looked at us intently.
“What do you need them for?”
“Well, we thought it would come in handy some time.”
“For instance, when, and what for?”
“You know, to make a heist.”
“Who are you going to heist, Max?”
Max hesitated for a moment. “Nah, we’re going to heist the Federal Reserve Bank,” Max said impressively.
The Professor turned his back and put a handkerchief to his mouth. At first it sounded as if he was laughing. But we were mistaken. He really was coughing violently. He wiped his wet eyes.
“I have a bad cough, this damp cellar you know. Now, about this Federal Reserve heist. You lads are a little too young yet. Wait a few years. After a little experience on small stuf,f like candy stores, drug stores, then gradually you work your way up to the Federal Reserve. All right, lads?” He was smiling broadly. “You can always come to me for help.”
“Can you get us revolvers?” Max was insistent.
“Yes, yes. I can get anything. Leave it to me, Max. When I think you boys are ready for them, you will have them. Is that satisfactory? One thing you have to learn, not to be too impetuous, my lad.”
He patted Max on the back.
“What’s the name of the book you have in your back pocket?” he said to me.
I took it out and showed it to him.
I shrugged.
“You like books?” he asked, smiling.
“Yeh, I like to read.”
“Why don’t you get good books, join the Public Library?” “The library is for sissies.”
He laughed. “Well, I’ll tell you what, I’ll let you belong to my library. Go on, help yourself, in there.”
He gestured toward the toilet. “You got books in there?”
“Yes, go on help yourself, that’s the best place for the library. That’s where one can really concentrate on what one is reading.”
I walked into the toilet. Both walls from the floor to the ceiling were covered with shelves of books. They all had unfamiliar titles.
“Well, have you found something you would like?” the Professor called to me.
I spied a title that made a little sense to me. Boswell’s
I showed it to him. He looked doubtfully at me. “Do you think you will like it and understand it?”
“Who you kiddin’?” I snorted.
“It’s kind of deep stuff for a kid,” he said.
“You don’t know Noodles, Professor, he’s a smart guy. The smartest guy on Delancey Street.”
“All right, Noodles,” he said, “after you finish it I’d like to know what you think of it.”
“Yeh, I’ll let you know,” I promised.
Chapter 2
We walked back to Gelly’s.
Maxie asked, “What was that he said, I have to learn not to be… that word, imp… something, you remember, Noodles?”
“Impetuous?”
“Yep, that’s it, impetuous. What did he mean?”
“Not to rush into things, you know, without figuring.”
“That’s a good tip. The Professor is a smart one. Yep, you got to plan things out; that’s one thing I’m gonna remember.”
Patsy, Cockeye and Dominick were standing in the doorway, waiting for us. “Where were you, guys?” Patsy asked.
“Noodles and I made a buck each.” Maxie walked into the store. We followed him in.
“Give me your buck, Noodles,” Maxie said.
“Give you my buck?” I was unwilling. “What for?” “We all share,” Max said decisively.
Reluctantly I handed it to him. He walked over to old man Gelly. “Give us some change.” He threw the bills on the counter.
Maxie split the two dollars five ways. I took my forty cents with a feeling of disappointment. He smiled reassuringly.
“Don’t worry, Noodles, there’s more where that came from.”
We went outside. We smoked, whistled, and made nasty remarks to the girls passing by.
Dominick’s father came by. He slapped the cigarette out of Dominick’s mouth and chased him home. We jeered after them.
I was looking up at Dolores, who was gazing out of her window across the street. Maxie waved to her; she shut the window in a huff[87]. I stood there daydreaming about her. My first love. I imagined her in all sorts of trouble, being pursued and molested by rufaif ns. In my daydreams I cast myself in the heroic role of her protector – me and my knife. Then my thoughts wandered off to Peggy. A new strange excitement took me. I wondered if she would be on the stoop.
I said, “I’m gonna hit the hay[88], fellas,” and walked down the street towards my house.
“What’s the hurry all of a sudden?” Maxie called after me. “Don’t forget, early tomorrow, Noodles, four-thirty.”
“I’ll be there, don’t worry.”
Peggy wasn’t on the stoop. Like a tomcat I came through the halls, up and down the stairs looking for her. I walked up the five flights into our dark apartment. It was quiet. The family was asleep.
The Sabbath candles were burning on the table. Alongside them was a plate of gefuellte fish and chaleh bread which my mother had left for me. Hungrily I wolfed the food and gulped down a glass of cold water from the kitchen sink.