share of the job. But his young companions struck him as rash, the planning of the job
haphazard (наудачу; случайно), the distribution of the loot foolhardy (рискованный,
безрассудный). Their whole approach was too careless for his taste. But he thought
them of good, sound character. Peter Clemenza, already burly, inspired a certain trust,
and the lean saturnine (мрачный, угрюмый ['sжt∂:naın]) Tessio inspired confidence.
The job itself went off without a hitch (зацепка, заминка). Vito Corleone felt no fear,
much to his astonishment, when his two comrades flashed guns and made the driver
get out of the silk truck. He was also impressed with the coolness of Clemenza and
Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франкаwww.franklang.ru
Tessio. They didn't get excited but joked with the driver, told him if he was a good lad
39
they'd send his wife a few dresses. Because Vito thought it stupid to peddle (торговать
вразнос) dresses himself and so gave his whole share of stock to the fence (забор,
ограда; укрыватель или скупщик краденого /сленг/), he made only seven hundred
dollars. But this was a considerable sum of money in 1919.
The next day on the street, Vito Corleone was stopped by the cream-suited, white-
fedoraed Fanucci. Fanucci was a brutal-looking man and he had done nothing to
disguise the circular scar that stretched in a white semicircle from ear to ear, looping
(loop – петля; to loop – делать петлю) under his chin. He had heavy black brows and
coarse features which, when he smiled, were in some odd way amiable.
He spoke with a very thick Sicilian accent. "Ah, young fellow," he said to Vito. "People
tell me you're rich. You and your two friends. But don't you think you've treated me a
little shabbily (shabby – протертый, потрепанный; низкий, подлый)? After all, this is
my neighborhood and you should let me wet my beak (клюв)." He used the Sicilian
phrase of the Mafia, "Fari vagnari a pizzu." Pizzu means the beak of any small bird such
as a canary. The phrase itself was a demand for part of the loot.
As was his habit, Vito Corleone did not answer. He understood the implication (намек,
подтекст; to implicate – вовлекать, впутывать; заключать в себе, подразумевать)
immediately and was waiting for a definite demand.
Fanucci smiled at him, showing gold teeth and stretching his noose-like scar tight
around his face. He mopped his face with a handkerchief and unbuttoned his jacket for
a moment as if to cool himself but really to show the gun he carried stuck in the
waistband of his comfortably wide trousers. Then he sighed and said, "Give me five
hundred dollars and I'll forget the insult. After all, young people don't know the
courtesies due a man like myself."
Vito Corleone smiled at him and even as a young man still unblooded (еще не
запятнанный кровью), there was something so chilling in his smile that Fanucci
hesitated a moment before going on. "Otherwise the police will come to see you, your
wife and children will be shamed and destitute (останется без средств; destitute –
лишенный средств /к существованию/). Of course if my information as to your gains is
incorrect I'll dip (погружать /в жидкость/, окунать) my beak just a little. But no less than
three hundred dollars. And don't try to deceive me."
For the first time Vito Corleone spoke. His voice was reasonable, showed no anger. It
was courteous, as befitted a young man speaking to an older man of Fanucci's
Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франкаwww.franklang.ru
eminence (высота; высокое положение). He said softly, "My two friends have my
share of the money, I'll have to speak to them."
40
Fanucci was reassured. "You can tell your two friends that I expect them to let me wet
my beak in the same manner. Don't be afraid to tell them," he added reassuringly.
"Clemenza and I know each other well, he understands these things. Let yourself be
guided by him. He has more experience in these matters."
Vito Corleone shrugged. He tried to look a little embarrassed. "Of course," he said.
"You understand this is all new to me. Thank you for speaking to me as a godfather."
Fanucci was impressed. "You're a good fellow," he said. He took Vito's hand and
clasped it in both of his hairy ones. "You have respect," he said. "A fine thing in the
young. Next time speak to me first, eh? Perhaps I can help you in your plans."
In later years Vito Corleone understood that what had made him act in such a perfect,
tactical way with Fanucci was the death of his own hot-tempered father who had been
killed by the Mafia in Sicily. But at that time all he felt was an icy rage that this man
planned to rob him of the money he had risked his life and freedom to earn. He had not
been afraid. Indeed he thought, at that moment, that Fanucci was a crazy fool. From
what he had seen of Clemenza, that burly Sicilian would sooner give up his life than a
penny of his loot. After all, Clemenza had been ready to kill a policeman merely to steal
a rug. And the slender Tessio had the deadly air of a viper (гадюка ['vaıp∂]).
But later that night, in Clemenza's tenement apartment across the air shaft, Vito
Corleone received another lesson in the education he had just begun. Clemenza cursed,
Tessio scowled (to scowl [skaul] – хмуриться, смотреть сердито), but then both men
started talking about whether Fanucci would be satisfied with two hundred dollars.
Tessio thought he might.
Clemenza was positive. "No, that scarface bastard must have found out what we
made from the wholesaler who bought the dresses. Fanucci won't take a dime less than
three hundred dollars. We'll have to pay."
Vito was astonished but was careful not to show his astonishment. "Why do we have
to pay him? What can he do to the three of us? We're stronger than him. We have guns.
Why do we have to hand over the money we earned?"
Clemenza explained patiently. "Fanucci has friends, real brutes. He has connections
with the police. He'd like us to tell him our plans because he could set us up for the cops
and earn their gratitude. Then they would owe him a favor. That’s how he operates. And
he has a license from Maranzalla himself to work this neighborhood." Maranzalla was a
Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франкаwww.franklang.ru
gangster often in the newspapers, reputed to be the leader of a criminal ring
specializing in extortion, gambling and armed robbery.
Clemenza served wine that he had made himself. His wife, after putting a plate of
41
salami, olives and a loaf of Italian bread on the table, went down to sit with her women
cronies in front of the building, carrying her chair with her. She was a young Italian girl
only a few years in the country and did not yet understand English.
Vito Corleone sat with his two friends and drank wine. He had never used his
intelligence before as he was using it now. He was surprised at how clearly he could
think. He recalled everything he knew about Fanucci. He remembered the day the man
had had his throat cut and had run down the street holding his fedora under his chin to
catch the dripping blood. He remembered the murder of the man who had wielded the
knife and the other two having their sentences removed by paying an indemnity. And
suddenly he was sure that Fanucci had no great connections, could not possibly have.
Not a man who informed to the police. Not a man who allowed his vengeance to be
bought off. A real Mafioso chief would have had the other two men killed also. No.
Fanucci had got lucky and killed one man but had known he could not kill the other two
after they were alerted. And so he had allowed himself to be paid. It was the personal
brutal force of the man that allowed him to levy tribute (взимать налог: levy [‘levı]) on
the shopkeepers, the gambling games that ran in the tenement apartments. But Vito
Corleone knew of at least one gambling game that had never paid Fanucci tributes and
nothing had ever happened to the man running it.
And so it was Fanucci alone. Or Fanucci with some gunmen hired for special jobs on
a strictly cash basis. Which left Vito Corleone with another decision. The course his own
life must take.
It was from this experience came his oft-repeated belief that every man has but one
destiny. On that night he could have paid Fanucci the tribute and have become again a
grocery clerk with perhaps his own grocery store in the years to come. But destiny had
decided that he was to become a Don and had brought Fanucci to him to set him on his
destined path.
When they finished the bottle of wine, Vito said cautiously to Clemenza and Tessio, "If
you like, why not give me two hundred dollars each to pay to Fanucci? I guarantee he
will accept that amount from me. Then leave everything in my hands. I'll settle this
problem to your satisfaction."
At once Clemenza's eyes gleamed with suspicion. Vito said to him coldly, "I never lie
to people I have accepted as my friends. Speak to Fanucci yourself tomorrow. Let him
Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франкаwww.franklang.ru
ask you for the money. But don't pay him. And don't in any way quarrel with him. Tell
him you have to get the money and will give it to me to give him. Let him understand