Standing at the door with him were two of his three sons. The eldest, baptized

Santino but called Sonny by everyone except his father, was looked at askance

By the older Italian men; with admiration by the younger. Sonny Corleone was tall

For a first-generation American of Italian parentage, almost six feet, and his crop

Of bushy, curly hair made him look even taller. His face was that of a gross Cupid,

The features even but the bow-shaped lips thickly sensual, the dimpled cleft chin

In some curious way obscene. He was built as powerfully as a bull and it was

Common knowledge that he was so generously endowed by nature that his

Martyred wife feared the marriage bed as unbelievers once feared the rack. It was

Whispered that when as a youth he had visited houses of ill fame, even the most

hardened and fearless putain, after an awed inspection of his massive organ,

Demanded double price. Here at the wedding feast, some young matrons,

Widehipped, wide-mouthed, measured Sonny Corleone with coolly confident eyes.

But on this particular day they were wasting their time. Sonny Corleone, despite

The presence of his wife and three small children, had plans for his sister's maid

Of honor, Lucy Mancini. This young girl, fully aware, sat at a garden table in her

Pink formal gown, a tiara of flowers in her glossy black hair. She had flirted with

Sonny in the past week of rehearsals and squeezed his hand that morning at the

Altar. A maiden could do no more.

She did not care that he would never be the great man his father had proved to

Be. Sonny Corleone had strength, he had courage. He was generous and his heart

Was admitted to be as big as his organ. Yet he did not have his father's humility

But instead a quick, hot temper that led him into errors of judgment. Though he

Was a great help in his father's business, there were many who doubted that he

Would become the heir to it.

The second son, Frederico, called Fred or Fredo, was a child every Italian

Prayed to the saints for. Dutiful, loyal, always at the service of his father, living

With his parents at age thirty. He was short and burly, not handsome but with the

Same Cupid head of the family, the curly helmet of hair over the round face and

Sensual bow-shaped lips. Only, in Fred, these lips were not sensual but

Granitelike. Inclined to dourness, he was still a crutch to his father, never

Disputed him, never embarrassed him by scandalous behavior with women.

Despite all these virtues he did not have that personal magnetism, that animal

Force, so necessary for a leader of men, and he too was not expected to inherit

The family business.

 

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1 The third son, Michael Corleone, did not stand with his father and his two brothers

but sat at a table in the most secluded corner (в самом безлюдном уголке; to seclude

[sı’klu:d] – отстранять, изолировать) of the garden. But even there he could not

escape the attentions (избежать знаков внимания) of the family friends.

2 Michael Corleone was the youngest son of the Don and the only child who had

refused the great man's direction (отказался следовать указаниям этого великого

человека). He did not have the heavy, Cupid-shaped face of the other children, and his

jet black hair (черные, как смоль; jet – гагат, черный янтарь) was straight rather than

curly (скорее прямые, чем вьющиеся). His skin was a clear olive-brown that would

have been called beautiful in a girl. He was handsome in a delicate way (красив тонкой,

изящной красотой). Indeed there had been a time when the Don had worried about his

youngest son's masculinity (беспокоился о «мужеских качествах» = не слишком ли

женственен его сын). A worry that was put to rest (беспокойство это отпало, было

снято: «было успокоено») when Michael Corleone became seventeen years old.

3 Now this youngest son sat at a table in the extreme corner (в наиболее удаленном)

of the garden to proclaim his chosen alienation (избранную им непричастность;

alienation [eılj∂’neı∫∂n] − отдаление, отчужденность) from father and family. Beside

him sat the American girl everyone had heard about but whom no one had seen until

this day. He had, of course, shown the proper respect (выказал надлежащее

уважение) and introduced her (представил ее) to everyone at the wedding, including

(включая) his family. They were not impressed with her (она не произвела на них

большого впечатления: «не были впечатлены ею»). She was too thin, she was too

fair (светлая), her face was too sharply intelligent («остро-умные») for a woman, her

manner too free for a maiden. Her name, too, was outlandish (было чуждым,

иностранным) to their ears; she called herself Kay Adams. If she had told them that her

family had settled (поселилась) in America two hundred years ago and her name was a

common one (обычное), they would have shrugged (пожали бы /плечами/).

4 Every guest noticed that the Don paid no particular attention (не уделил особого

внимания) to this third son. Michael had been his favorite before the war and obviously

(очевидно) the chosen heir to run the family business (вести семейное дело,

управлять делом) when the proper moment came (когда придет надлежащий

момент). He had all the quiet force and intelligence of his great father, the born instinct

to act in such a way that men had no recourse but to respect him (что людям не

оставалось ничего иного, как уважать его; recourse [rı'ko:s] – прибежище,

 

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пристанище). But when World War II broke out, Michael Corleone volunteered for the

Marine Corps (пошел добровольцем во флот [vol∂n’tı∂]; Marine [m∂’ri:n] –

государственный морской флот). He defied his father's express command (он

пренебрег явным, недвусмысленно выраженным указанием отца; to defy [dı'faı] –

бросать вызов; игнорировать, не обращать внимания) when he did so.

5 Don Corleone had no desire (никакого желания [dı'zaı∂]), no intention (намерения),

of letting his youngest son be killed (допустить, чтобы его сын был убит: «быть

убитым») in the service of a power foreign to himself (за чужую, чуждую ему власть:

«на службе у власти = державы, иностранной по отношению к нему»). Doctors had

been bribed (были подкуплены), secret arrangements (договоренности) had been

made. A great deal of money (большое количество) had been spent to take the proper

precautions (неоходимые меры предосторожности; precaution [prı'ko:∫∂n] −

предосторожность). But Michael was twenty-one years of age and nothing could be

done against his own willfulness (своеволие, упрямство). He enlisted (записался) and

fought (бился; to fight) over the Pacific Ocean. He became a Captain and won medals.

In 1944 his picture was printed in Life magazine with a photo layout of his deeds («с

фотографическим изображением» его деяний = подвигов; layout – планировка,

расположение; выставка, показ). A friend had shown Don Corleone the magazine (his

family did not dare (не осмеливалась)), and the Don had grunted disdainfully (крякнул

презрительно; to grunt – хрюкать; ворчать, мычать; disdain [dıs’deın] – презрение,

пренебрежение) and said, "He performs those miracles for strangers (выполняет те

чудеса для чужаков, иностранцев; miracle ['mır∂kl])."

6 When Michael Corleone was discharged (демобилизован) early in 1945 to recover

(чтобы поправиться, прийти в себя; to recover [rı’kΛv∂] – вновь обретать; прийти в

себя; выздороветь) from a disabling wound (от раны, мешающей ему продолжать

службу; to disable – делать неспособным, непригодным), he had no idea that his

father had arranged his release (устроил его освобождение). He stayed home for a

few weeks, then, without consulting anyone, entered Dartmouth College in Hanover,

New Hampshire, and so he left his father's house. To return for the wedding of his sister

and to show his own future wife to them, the washed-out rag of an American girl

(бесцветную американку: the washed-out rag – застиранная тряпка).