Марио Пьюзо – The Godfather / Крестный отец (страница 4)

Finally, a good-hearted man who cannot remain angry with an erring friend, Don Corleone turned to the undertaker. “If you had come to me for justice those scum who ruined your daughter would be weeping bitter tears this day.”

Bonasera bowed his head and murmured, “Be my friend. I accept.”

Don Corleone put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Good,” he said, “you shall have your justice. Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do me a service in return. Until that day, consider this justice a gift from my wife, your daughter’s godmother.”

When the door closed behind the grateful undertaker, Don Corleone turned to Hagen and said, “Give this afaf ir to Clemenza and tell him to be sure to use reliable people, people who will not be carried away by the smell of blood. After all, we’re not murderers.”

From the garden, there came a happy shout. Sonny Corleone pressed close to the window. “It’s Johnny, he came to the wedding, what did I tell you?” Hagen moved to the window. “It’s really your godson,” he said to Don Corleone. “Shall I bring him here?”

“No,” the Don said. “Let the people enjoy him. Let him come to me when he is ready.” He smiled at Hagen. “You see? He is a good godson.”

Hagen felt jealous. He said dryly, “It’s been two years. He’s probably in trouble again and wants you to help.”

“And who should he come to if not his godfather?” asked Don Corleone.

The first one to see Johnny Fontane enter the garden was Connie Corleone. He hugged and kissed her keeping his arm around her as others came up to greet him. They were all his old friends, people he had grown up with. Then Connie was dragging him to her new husband. Johnny saw that the blond young man looked a little sour at no longer being the star of the day.

A familiar voice called from the bandstand, “How about giving us a song, Johnny?” He looked up and saw Nino Valenti smiling down at him. Johnny Fontane jumped up on the bandstand and threw his arms around Nino. They had been inseparable, singing together, going out with girls together, until Johnny had started to become famous and sing on the radio. When he had gone to Hollywood to make movies Johnny had phoned Nino a couple of times just to talk and had promised to get him a club singing date. But he had never done so. Seeing Nino now, his cheerful, drunken grin, all the affection returned.

Nino began playing on the mandolin. Johnny Fontane put his hand on Nino’s shoulder. “This is for the bride,” he said and sang the words to an obscene Sicilian love song. At the end the guests would not stop applauding until Johnny cleared his throat to sing another song.

They were all proud of him. He was of them and he had become a famous singer, a movie star who slept with the most desired women in the world. And yet he had shown proper respect for his Godfather by traveling three thousand miles to attend this wedding.

Only Don Corleone, standing in the corner entrance of the house, sensed something amiss. Cheerily, he called out, “My godson has come three thousand miles to do us honor and no one thinks to wet his throat?” At once a dozen full wineglasses were thrust at Johnny Fontane. He took a sip from all and rushed to embrace his Godfather. As he did so he whispered something into the older man’s ear. Don Corleone led him into the house.

Tom Hagen held out his hand when Johnny came into the room. Johnny shook it and said, “How are you, Tom?” But without his usual charm and Hagen was a little hurt by this coolness. Johnny Fontane said to the Don, “When I got the wedding invitation I said to myself, ‘My Godfather isn’t mad at me anymore.’ I called you five times after my divorce and Tom always told me you were out or busy so I knew you were sore.”

Don Corleone was filling glasses from the yellow bottle of Strega. “That’s all forgotten. Now. Can I do something for you still? You’re not too famous, too rich, that I can’t help you?”

Johnny drank the yellow liquid and held out his glass to be refilled. He tried to sound jaunty. “I’m not rich,

Godfather. I’m going down. You were right. I should never have left my wife and kids for that tramp[36] I married. I don’t blame you for getting sore at me.”

Don Corleone broke in. “How is your family?”

Johnny sighed. “I took care of them. After the divorce I gave Ginny and the kids more than the courts said I should. I go see them once a week. I miss them. Sometimes I think I’m going crazy.” He took another drink. “Now 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].”