Worrying Sonny Corleone out in Long Beach.

 

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1 At a quarter to five that afternoon, Don Corleone had finished checking the papers

the office manager of his olive oil company had prepared for him. He put on his jacket

and rapped his knuckles (слегка постучал костяшками пальцев) on his son Freddie's

head to make him take his nose out of the afternoon newspaper. "Tell Gatto to get the

car from the lot (с автостоянки: parking lot)," he said. "I'll be ready to go home in a few

minutes."

2 Freddie grunted (замычал, проворчал: «хрюкнул»). "I'll have to get it myself. Paulie

called in sick this morning. Got a cold again (простудился)."

3 Don Corleone looked thoughtful for a moment. "That's the third time this month. I

think maybe you'd better get a healthier fellow for this job. Tell Tom."

4 Fred protested. "Paulie's a good kid. If he says he's sick, he's sick. I don't mind

getting the car," He left the office. Don Corleone watched out the window as his son

crossed Ninth Avenue to the parking lot. He stopped to call Hagen's office but there was

no answer. He called the house at Long Beach but again there was no answer. Irritated,

he looked out the window. His car was parked at the curb in front of his building.

Freddie was leaning against the fender, arms folded, watching the throng of Christmas

shoppers. Don Corleone put on his jacket. The office manager helped him with his

overcoat. Don Corleone grunted his thanks and went out the door and started down the

two flights (два пролета) of steps.

5 Out in the street the early winter light was failing. Freddie leaned casually against the

fender of the heavy Buick. When he saw his father come out of the building Freddie

went out into the street to the driver's side of the car and got in. Don Corleone was

about to get in on the sidewalk side of the car when he hesitated (помедлил:

«засомневался») and then turned back to the long open fruit stand near the corner.

This had been his habit (привычка) lately, he loved the big but-of-season fruits, yellow

peaches and oranges, that glowed (светились, рдели, румянились) in their green

boxes. The proprietor sprang to serve him. Don Corleone did not handle the fruit (не

брал в руки, не перебирал). He pointed. The fruit man disputed his decisions only

once, to show him that one of his choices had a rotten underside (гнилой низ). Don

Corleone took the paper bag in his left hand and paid the man with a five-dollar bill. He

took his change and, as he turned to go back to the waiting car, two men stepped from

around the corner. Don Corleone knew immediately what was to happen.

6 The two men wore black overcoats and black hats pulled low to prevent identification

by witnesses (to prevent – предотвратить, не допустить [pri’vent]). They had not

 

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expected Don Corleone's alert reaction (alert – бдительный, проворный [∂'l∂:t]). He

dropped the bag of fruit and darted toward the parked car (бросился; dart – стрела,

дротик) with startling quickness for a man of his bulk. At the same time he shouted,

"Fredo, Fredo." It was only then that the two men drew their guns and fired.

7 The first bullet caught Don Corleone in the back. He felt the hammer shock of its

impact but made his body move toward the car. The next two bullets hit him in the

buttocks and sent him sprawling in the middle of the street (to sprawl – растянуться,

развалиться). Meanwhile the two gunmen, careful not to slip on the rolling fruit (to slip

– поскользнуться), started to follow in order to finish him off. At that moment, perhaps

no more than five seconds after the Don's call to his son, Frederico Corleone appeared

out of his car, looming over it (to loom – виднеться, неясно вырисовываться, маячить;

принимать угрожающие размеры). The gunmen fired two more hasty shots at the Don

lying in the gutter (в /сточной/ канаве). One hit him in the fleshy part of his arm and the

second hit him in the calf of his right leg. Though these wounds were the least serious

they bled profusely (обильно; profuse [pr∂’fju:s] – изобилующий, расточительный),

forming small pools of blood beside his body. But by this time Don Corleone had lost

consciousness (потерял сознание; conscious ['kon∫∂s] – сознательный; ощущающий).

8 Freddie had heard his father shout, calling him by his childhood name, and then he

had heard the first two loud reports (report – звенящее эхо /выстрела/). By the time he

got out of the car he was in shock, he had not even drawn his gun. The two assassins

(assassin [∂'sжsın] – /наемный, нападающий из-за угла/ убийца) could easily have

shot him down. But they too panicked.

9 They must have known the son was armed, and besides too much time had passed.

They disappeared around the corner, leaving Freddie alone in the street with his father's

bleeding body. Many of the people thronging the avenue had flung themselves into

doorways or on the ground (бросились; to fling), others had huddled together in small

groups (толпились, жались друг к другу).

10 Freddie still had not drawn his weapon. He seemed stunned (to stun – оглушать

ударом). He stared down at his father's body lying face down on the tarred street (на

испачканной: «просмоленной» улице; tar – смола, гудрон), lying now in what

seemed to him a blackish lake of blood (черноватое озеро). Freddie went into physical

shock. People eddied out again (снова появились, вышли наружу; eddy – маленький

водоворот, воронка; to eddy – крутиться в водовороте) and someone, seeing him

start to sag (начал оседать), led him to the curbstone and made him sit down on it. A

crowd gathered around Don Corleone's body, a circle that shattered (рассыпался)

 

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when the first police car sirened a path through them. Directly behind the police was the

Daily News radio car and even before it stopped a photographer jumped out to snap

pictures (щелкнуть, нащелкать) of the bleeding Don Corleone. A few moments later an

ambulance arrived. The photographer turned his attention to Freddie Corleone, who

was now weeping openly, and this was a curiously comical sight, because of his tough,

Cupid-featured face, heavy nose and thick mouth smeared with snot (измаранные

соплями; to smear – размазывать; пачкать). Detectives were spreading through the

crowd and more police cars were coming up. One detective knelt beside Freddie,

questioning him, but Freddie was too deep in shock to answer. The detective reached

inside Freddie's coat and lifted his wallet. He looked at the identification inside and

whistled to his partner. In just a few seconds Freddie had been cut off from the crowd by

a flock of plainclothesmen (группкой: «стадом» сыщиков: «людей в штатском»). The

first detective found Freddie's gun in its shoulder holster (в кобуре) and took it. Then

they lifted Freddie off his feet and shoved him into an unmarked car. As that car pulled

away it was followed by the Daily News radio car. The photographer was still snapping

pictures of everybody and everything.