Английский язык с Крестным Отцом
Шрифт:
kid on the way in two years was just icing.
Kay would be waiting for him at the airport, she always came to meet him, she was
always so glad when he came back from a trip. And he was too. Except now. For the
end of this trip meant that he finally had to take the action he had been groomed for
over the last three years. The Don would be waiting for him. The caporegimes would be
waiting for him. And he, Michael Corleone, would have to give the orders, make the
decisions which would decide his and his Family's fate.
Every morning when Kay Adams Corleone got up to take care of the baby's early
feeding, she saw Mama Corleone, the Don's wife, being driven away from the mall by
one of the bodyguards, to return an hour later. Kay soon learned that her mother-in-law
went to church every single morning. Often on her return, the old woman stopped by for
morning coffee and to see her new grandchild.
Mama Corleone always started off by asking Kay why she didn't think of becoming a
Catholic, ignoring the fact that Kay's child had already been baptized a Protestant. So
Kay felt it was proper to ask the old woman why she went to church every morning,
whether that was a necessary part of being a Catholic.
As if she thought that this might have stopped Kay from converting the old woman
said, "Oh, no, no, some Catholics only go to church on Easter and Christmas. You go
when you feel like going."
Kay laughed. "Then why do you go every single morning?"
207
In a completely natural way, Mama Corleone said, "I go for my husband," she pointed
down toward the floor, so he don't go down there." She paused. "I say prayers for his
soul every day so he go up there." She pointed heavenward. She said this with an
impish smile, as if she were subverting her husband's will in some way, or as if it were a
losing cause. It was said jokingly almost, in her grim, Italian, old crone fashion. And as
always when her husband was not present, there was an attitude of disrespect to the
great Don.
"How is your husband feeling?" Kay asked politely.
Mama Corleone shrugged. "He's not the same man since they shot him. He lets
Michael do all the work, he just plays the fool with his garden, his peppers, his tomatoes.
As if he were some peasant still. But men are always like that."
Later in the morning Connie Corleone would walk across the mall with her two
children to pay Kay a visit and chat. Kay liked Connie, her vivaciousness, her obvious
fondness for her brother Michael. Connie had taught Kay how to cook some Italian
dishes but sometimes brought her own more expert concoctions over for Michael to
taste.
Now this morning as she usually did, she asked Kay what Michael thought of her
husband, Carlo. Did Michael really like Carlo, as he seemed to? Carlo had always had a
little trouble with the Family but now over the last years he had straightened out. He was
really doing well in the labor union but he had to work so hard, such long hours. Carlo
really liked Michael, Connie always said. But then, everybody liked Michael, just as
everybody liked her father. Michael was the Don all over again. It was the best thing that
Michael was going to run the Family olive oil business.
Kay had observed before that when Connie spoke about her husband in relation to
the Family, she was always nervously eager for some word of approval for Carlo. Kay
would have been stupid if she had not noticed the almost terrified concern Connie had
for whether Michael liked Carlo or not. One night she spoke to Michael about it and
mentioned the fact that nobody ever spoke about Sonny Corleone, nobody even
referred to him, at least not in her presence. Kay had once tried to express her
condolences to the Don and his wife and had been listened to with almost rude silence
and then ignored. She had tried to get Connie talking about her older brother without
success.
Sonny's wife, Sandra, had taken her children and moved to Florida, where her own
parents now lived. Certain financial arrangements had been made so that she and her
children could live comfortably, but Sonny had left no estate.
Michael reluctantly explained what had happened the night Sonny was killed. That
208
Carlo had beaten his wife and Connie had called the mall and Sonny had taken the call
and rushed out in a blind rage. So naturally Connie and Carlo were always nervous that
the rest of the Family blamed her for indirectly causing Sonny's death. Or blamed her
husband, Carlo. But this wasn't the case. The proof was that they had given Connie and
Carlo a house in the mall itself and promoted Carlo to an important job in the labor
union setup. And Carlo had straightened out, stopped drinking, stopped whoring,
stopped trying to be a wise guy. The Family was pleased with his work and attitude for
the last two years. Nobody blamed him for what had happened.