Английский язык с Крестным Отцом
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can't even afford to have him arrested or accused."
Don Corleone sighed. "I know, I know. That's the difficulty. But we can't take too long.
There are troubles in Sicily. The young fellows over there don't listen to their elders
anymore and a lot of the men deported from America are just too much for the old-
fashioned Dons to handle. Michael could get caught in between. I've taken some
precautions against that and he's still got a good cover but that cover won't last forever.
That's one of the reasons I had to make the peace. Barzini has friends in Sicily and they
were beginning to sniff Michael's trail. That gives you one of the answers to your riddle.
I had to make the peace to insure my son's safety. There was nothing else to do."
Hagen didn't bother asking the Don how he had gotten this information. He was not
even surprised, and it was true that this solved part of the riddle. "When I meet with
Tattaglia's people to firm up the details, should I insist that all his drug middlemen
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(посредники) be clean? The judges will be a little skittish (норовистый
/о лошади/; капризный) about giving light sentences to a man with a record."
Don Corleone shrugged. "They should be smart enough to figure that out themselves.
Mention it, don't insist. We'll do our best but if they use a real snowbird (дрозд-
рябинник; кокаинист) and he gets caught, we won't lift a finger. We'll just tell them
nothing can be done. But Barzini is a man who will know that without being told. You
notice how he never committed himself in this affair. One might never have known he
was in any way concerned. That is a man who doesn't get caught on the losing side."
Hagen was startled. "You mean he was behind Sollozzo and Tattaglia all the time?"
Don Corleone sighed. "Tattaglia is a pimp. He could never have outfought Santino.
That's why I don't have to know about what happened. It's enough to know that Barzini
had a hand in it."
Hagen let this sink in. The Don was giving him clues but there was something very
important left out. Hagen knew what it was but he knew it was not his place to ask. He
said good night and turned to go. The Don had a last word for him.
"Remember, use all your wits for a plan to bring Michael home," the Don said. "And
one other thing. Arrange with the telephone man so that every month I get a list of all
the telephone calls, made and received, by Clemenza and Tessio. I suspect them of
nothing. I would swear they would never betray me. But there's no harm in knowing any
little thing that may help us before the event."
Hagen nodded and went out. He wondered if the Don was keeping a check on him
also in some way and then was ashamed of his suspicion. But now he was sure that in
the subtle and complex mind of the Godfather a far-ranging plan of action was being
initiated that made the day's happenings no more than a tactical retreat. And there was
that one dark fact that no one mentioned, that he himself had not dared to ask, that Don
Corleone ignored. All pointed to a day of reckoning (to reckon –
сводить счеты, рассчитываться) in the future.
Chapter 21
But it was to be nearly another year before Don Corleone could arrange for his son
Michael to be smuggled back into the United States. During that time the whole Family
racked their brains (ломали голову; to rack – пытать, мучить; заставлять работать
изо всех сил, изнурять) for suitable schemes. Even Carlo Rizzi was listened to now
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that he was living in the mall with Connie. (During that time they had a second child, a
boy.) But none of the schemes met with the Don's approval.
Finally it was the Bocchicchio Family who through a misfortune of its own solved the
problem. There was one Bocchicchio, a young cousin of no more than twenty-five years
of age, named Felix, who was born in America and with more brains than anyone in the
clan had ever had before. He had refused to be drawn into the Family garbage hauling
business and married a nice American girl of English stock to further his split from the
clan. He went to school at night, to become a lawyer, and worked during the day as a
civil service post office clerk. During that time he had three children but his wife was a
prudent manager and they lived on his salary until he got his law degree.
Now Felix Bocchicchio, like many young men, thought that having struggled to
complete his education and master the tools of his profession, his virtue would
automatically be rewarded and he would earn a decent living. This proved not to be the
case. Still proud, he refused all help from his clan. But a lawyer friend of his, a young
man well connected and with a budding (подающий надежды, многообещающий)
career in a big law firm, talked Felix into doing him a little favor. It was very complicated,