Английский язык с Крестным Отцом
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apartment at night, eh?"
She punched him in the shoulder. "I heard Nino was sick and that Jules came up. I
just wanted to see if I could help. Nino's OK, isn't he?"
"Sure," Johnny said. "He'll be fine."
Jules Segal had sprawled out on the couch. "Like hell he is," Jules said. "I suggest we
all sit here and wait for Nino to come to. And then we all talk him into committing himself.
Lucy, he likes you, maybe you can help. Johnny, if you're a real friend of his you'll go
along. Otherwise old Nino's liver will shortly be exhibit A in some university medical lab."
Johnny was offended by the doctor's flippant attitude. Who the hell did he think he
was? He started to say so but Nino's voice came from the bed, "Hey, old buddy, how
about a drink?"
Мультиязыковой
Nino was sitting up in bed. He grinned at Lucy and said, "Hey, baby, come to old
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Nino," He held his arms wide open. Lucy sat on the edge of the bed and gave him a hug.
Oddly enough Nino didn't look bad at all now, almost normal.
Nino snapped his fingers. "Come on, Johnny, gimmee a drink. The night's young yet.
Where the hell's my blackjack table?"
Jules took a long slug from his own glass and said to Nino, "You can't have a drink.
Your doctor forbids it."
Nino scowled. "Screw my doctor." Then a play-acting look of contrition came on his
face. "Hey, Julie, that's you. You're my doctor, right? I don't mean you, old buddy.
Johnny, get me a drink or I get up out of bed and get it myself."
Johnny shrugged and moved toward the bar. Jules said indifferently, "I'm saying he
shouldn't have it."
Johnny knew why Jules irritated him. The doctor's voice was always cool, the words
never stressed no matter how dire, the voice always low and controlled. If he gave a
warning the warning was in the words alone, the voice itself was neutral, as if uncaring.
It was this that made Johnny sore enough to bring Nino his water glass of whiskey.
Before he handed it over he said to Jules, "This won't kill him, right?"
"No, it won't kill him," Jules said calmly. Lucy gave him an anxious glance, started to
say something, then kept still. Meanwhile Nino had taken the whiskey and poured it
down his throat.
Johnny was smiling down at Nino; they had shown the punk doctor. Suddenly Nino
gasped, his face seemed to turn blue, he couldn't catch his breath and was choking for
air. His body leaped upward like a fish, his face was gorged with blood, his eyes bulging.
Jules appeared on the other side of the bed facing Johnny and Lucy. He took Nino by
the neck and held him still and plunged the needle into the shoulder near where it joined
the neck. Nino went limp in his hands, the heaves of his body subsided, and after a
moment he slumped down back onto his pillow. His eyes closed in sleep.
Johnny, Lucy and Jules went back into the living room part of the suite and sat around
the huge solid coffee table. Lucy picked up one of the aquamarine phones and ordered
coffee and some food to be sent up. Johnny had gone over to the bar and mixed himself
a drink.
"Did you know he would have that reaction from the whiskey?" Johnny asked.
Jules shrugged. "I was pretty sure he would."
Johnny said sharply, "Then why didn't you warn me?"
"I warned you," Jules said.
Мультиязыковой
"You didn't warn me right," Johnny said with cold anger. "You are really one hell of a
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doctor. You don't give a shit. You tell me to get Nino in a crazy house, you don't bother
to use a nice word like sanitorium. You really like to stick it to people, right?"
Lucy was staring down in her lap. Jules kept smiling at Fontane. "Nothing was going
to stop you from giving Nino that drink. You had to show you didn't have to accept my
warnings, my orders. Remember when you offered me a job as your personal physician
after that throat business? I turned you down because I knew we could never get along.
A doctor thinks he's God, he's the high priest in modern society, that's one of his
rewards. But you would never treat me that way. I'd be a flunky God to you. Like those
doctors you guys have in Hollywood. Where do you get those people from anyway?
Christ, don't they know anything or don't they just care? They must know what's
happening to Nino but they just give him all kinds of drugs to keep him going. They wear
those silk suits and they kiss your ass because you're a power movie man and so you
think they are great doctors. Show biz, docs, you gotta have heart? Right? But they
don't give a fuck if you live or die. Well, my little hobby, unforgivable as it is, is to keep
people alive. I let you give Nino that drink to show you what could happen to him." Jules