Английский язык с Крестным Отцом
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dealer had a six up, a bust card, and the dealer did bust. Nino raked in his chips and
turned to Johnny Fontane. "That's how to start the night, huh, Johnny?"
Johnny smiled. It was unusual for a gambler like Nino to have to sign a chit while
gambling. A word was usually good enough for the high rollers. Maybe they were afraid
Nino wouldn't remember his take-out because of his drinking. They didn't know that
Nino remembered everything.
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Nino kept winning and after the third round lifted a finger at the cocktail waitress. She
went to the bar at the end of the room and brought him his usual rye in a water glass.
Nino took the drink, switched it to his other hand so he could put an arm around the
waitress. "Sit with me, honey, play a few hands; bring me luck."
The cocktail waitress was a very beautiful girl, but Johnny could see she was all cold
hustle, no real personality, though she worked at it. She was giving Nino a big smile but
her tongue was hanging out for one of those black and gold chips. What the hell,
Johnny thought, why shouldn't she get some of it? He just regretted that Nino wasn't
getting something better for his money.
Nino let the waitress play his hands for a few rounds and then gave her one of the
chips and a pat on the behind to send her away from the table. Johnny motioned to her
to bring him a drink. She did so but she did it as if she were playing the most dramatic
moment in the most dramatic movie ever made. She turned all her charm on the great
Johnny Fontane. She made her eyes sparkle with invitation, her walk was the sexiest
walk ever walked, her mouth was very slightly parted as if she were ready to bite the
nearest object of her obvious passion. She resembled nothing so much as a female
animal in heat, but it was a deliberate act. Johnny Fontane thought, oh, Christ, one of
them. It was the most popular approach of women who wanted to take him to bed. It
only worked when he was very drunk and he wasn't drunk now. He gave the girl one of
his famous grins and said, "Thank you, honey." The girl looked at him and parted her
lips in a thank-you smile, her eyes went all smoky, her body tensed with the torso
leaning slightly back from the long tapering legs in their mesh stockings. An enormous
tension seemed to be building up in her body, her breasts seemed to grow fuller and
swell burstingly against her thin scantily cut blouse. Then her whole body gave a slight
quiver that almost let off a sexual twang. The whole impression was one of a woman
having an orgasm simply because Johnny Fontane had smiled at her and said, "Thank
you, honey." It was very well done. It was done better than Johnny had ever seen it
done before. But by now he knew it was fake. And the odds were always good that the
broads who did it were a lousy lay.
He watched her go back to her chair and nursed his drink slowly. He didn't want to
see that little trick again. He wasn't in the mood for it tonight.
It was an hour before Nino Valenti began to go. He started leaning first, wavered back,
and then plunged off the chair straight to the floor. But the pit boss and the relief dealer
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had been alerted by the first weave and caught him before he hit the ground. They lifted
him and carried him through the parted drapes that led to the bedroom of the suite.
Johnny kept watching as the cocktail waitress helped the other two men undress Nino
and shove him under the bed covers. The pit boss was counting Nino's chips and
making a note on his pad of chits, then guarding the table with its dealer's chips. Johnny
said to him, "How long has that been going on?"
The pit boss shrugged. "He went early tonight. The first time we got the house doc
and he fixed Mr. Valenti up with something and gave him some sort of lecture. Then
Nino told us that we shouldn't call the doc when that happened, just put him to bed and
he'd be OK in the morning. So that's what we do. He's pretty lucky, he was a winner
again tonight, almost three grand."
Johnny Fontane said, "Well, let's get the house doc up here tonight. OK? Page the
casino floor if you have to."
It was almost fifteen minutes before Jules Segal came into the suite. Johnny noted
with irritation that this guy never looked like a doctor. Tonight he was wearing a blue
loose-knit polo shirt with white trim, some sort of white suede shoes and no socks. He
looked funny as hell carrying the traditional black doctor's bag.
Johnny said, "You oughta figure out a way to carry your stuff in a cut-down golf bag."
Jules grinned understandingly, "Yeah, this medical school carryall is a real drag.
Scares the hell out of people. They should change the color anyway."
He went over to where Nino was lying in bed. As he opened his bag he said to Johnny.
"Thanks for that check you sent me as a consultant. It was excessive. I didn't do that