Английский язык с Крестным Отцом
Шрифт:
вознаграждать) love, writhing in the embrace of the man she adored and he had seen
her die beautifully at least a half dozen times. He had seen her and heard her and
dreamed about her and yet he was not prepared for the first thing she said to him alone.
"Johnny is one of the few men with balls in this town," she said. "The rest are all fags
(fag – младший ученик, оказывающий услуги старшим товращам /в английских
школах/) and sick morons (moron [‘mo:ron] – слабоумный,
up with a broad if you pumped a truckload of Spanish fly into their scrotums (scrotum
[‘skrutm] – мошонка)." She took Nino by the hand and led him into a corner of the
room, out of traffic and out of competition.
Then still coolly charming, she asked him about himself. He saw through her. He saw
that she was playing the role of the rich society girl who is being kind to the stableboy or
the chauffeur, but who in the movie would either discourage his amatory interest (if the
28
part were played by Spencer Tracy), or throw up everything in her mad desire for him (if
the part were played by Clark Gable). But it didn't matter. He found himself telling her
about how he and Johnny had grown up together in New York, about how he and
Johnny had sung together on little club dates. He found her marvelously sympathetic
and interested. Once she asked casually, "Do you know how Johnny made that bastard
Jack Woltz give him the part?" Nino froze and shook his head. She didn't pursue it.
The time had come to see the preview of a new Woltz movie. Deanna Dunn led Nino,
her warm hand imprisoning his, to an interior room of the mansion that had no windows
but was furnished with about fifty small two-person couches scattered around in such a
way as to give each one a little island of semiprivacy.
Nino saw there was a small table beside the couch and on the table were an ice bowl,
glasses and bottles of liquor plus a tray of cigarettes. He gave Deanna Dunn a cigarette,
lit it and then mixed them both drinks. They didn't speak to each other. After a few
minutes the lights went out.
He had been expecting something outrageous (возмутительный). After all, he had
heard the legends of Hollywood depravity (развращенность). But he was not quite
prepared for Deanna Dunn's voracious plummet (жадный натиск, «ныряние»;
voracious [v’reis] – прожорливый; жадный, ненасытный; plummet – свинцовый
отвес, гирька отвеса; to plummet – нырять, погружаться) on his sexual organ without
even a courteous and friendly word of preparation. He kept sipping his drink and
watching the movie, but not tasting, not seeing. He was excited in a way he had never
been before but part of it was because this woman servicing him in the dark had been
the object of his adolescent dreams.
Yet in a way his masculinity was insulted. So when the world-famous Deanna Dunn
was sated (насыщена,
fresh drink in the darkness and lit her a fresh cigarette and said in the most relaxed
voice imaginable, "This looks like a pretty good movie."
He felt her stiffen beside him on the couch. Could it be she was waiting for some sort
of compliment? Nino poured his glass full from the nearest bottle his hand touched in
the darkness. The hell with that. She'd treated him like a god damn male whore. For
some reason now he felt a cold anger at all these women. They watched the picture for
another fifteen minutes. He leaned away from her so their bodies did not touch.
Finally she said in a low harsh whisper, "Don't be such a snotty (сопливый) punk, you
liked it. You were as big as a house."
Nino sipped his drink and said in his natural off-hand manner (бесцеремонная,
29
развязная манера), "That's the way it always is. You should see it when I get excited."
She laughed a little and kept quiet for the rest of the picture. Finally it was over and
the lights went on. Nino took a look around. He could see there had been a ball here in
the darkness though oddly enough he hadn't heard a thing. But some of the dames had
that hard, shiny, bright-eyed look of women who had just been worked over real good.
They sauntered out of the projection room. Deanna Dunn left him immediately to go
over and talk to an older man Nino recognized as a famous featured player, only now,
seeing the guy in person, he realized that he was a fag. He sipped his drink thoughtfully.
Johnny Fontane came up beside him and said, "Hi, old buddy, having a good time?"
Nino grinned. "I don't know. It's different. Now when I go back to the old neighborhood
I can say Deanna Dunn had me."
Johnny laughed. "She can be better than that if she invites you home with her. Did
she?"
Nino shook his head. "I got too interested in the movie," he said. But this time Johnny
didn't laugh.
"Get serious, kid," he said. "A dame like that can do you a lot of good. And you used
to boff anything. Man, sometimes I still get nightmares when I remember those ugly