Английский язык с Крестным Отцом
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kind. His smashed face did not make him as evil-looking as he believed; because his
other profile was so handsome it made the disfigurement interesting even. And in any
case this was a land where to be called disfigured you had to compete with a host of
men who had suffered extreme physical misfortune.
Michael looked directly at the girl, the lovely ovals of her face. Her lips now he could
see were almost blue so dark was the blood pulsating in them. He said, not daring to
speak her name, "I saw you by the orange groves the other day. When you ran away. I
hope I didn't frighten you?"
The girl raised her eyes to him for just a fraction. She shook her head. But the
loveliness of those eyes had made Michael look away. The mother said tartly (tart –
кислый,
speak to the poor fellow, he's come miles to see you," but the girl's long jet lashes
remained closed like wings over her eyes. Michael handed her the present wrapped in
gold paper and the girl put it in her lap. The father said, "Open it, girl," but her hands did
not move. Her hands were small and brown, an urchin's hands (urchin – мальчишка,
пострел). The mother reached over and opened the package impatiently, yet careful
not to tear the precious paper. The red velvet jeweler's box gave ber pause, she had
never held such a thing in her hands and didn't know how to spring its catch (запор,
задвижка). But she got it open on pure instinct and then took out the present.
It was a heavy gold chain to be worn as a necklace, and it awed them not only
because of its obvious value but because a gift of gold in this society was also a
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statement of the most serious intentions. It was no less than a proposal of matrimony, or
rather the signal that there was the intention to propose matrimony. They could no
longer doubt the seriousness of this stranger. And they could not doubt his substance
(вещество, материя; имущество, состояние).
Apollonia still had not touched her present. Her mother held it up for her to see and
she raised those long lashes for a moment and then she looked directly at Michael, her
doelike brown eyes grave, and said, "Grazia." It was the first time he had heard her
voice.
It had all the velvety softness of youth and shyness and it set Michael's ears ringing.
He kept looking away from her and talking to the father and mother simply because
looking at her confused him so much. But he noticed that despite the conservative
looseness of her dress her body almost shone through the cloth with sheer sensuality.
And he noticed the darkening of her skin blushing, the dark creamy skin, going darker
with the blood surging to her face.
Finally Michael rose to go and the family rose too. They said their good-byes formally,
the girl at last confronting him as they shook hands, and he felt the shock of her skin on
his skin, her skin warm and rough, peasant skin. The father walked down the hill with
him to his car and invited him to Sunday dinner the next week. Michael nodded but he
knew he coudn't wait a week to see the girl again.
He didn't. The next day, without his shepherds, he drove to the village and sat on the
garden terrace of the cafй to chat with her father. Signor Vitelli took pity on him and sent
for his wife and daughter to come down to the cafй to join them. This meeting was less
awkward. The girl Apollonia was less shy, and spoke more. She was dressed in her
everyday print frock which suited her coloring much better.
The next day the same thing happened. Only this time Apollonia was wearing the gold
chain he had given her. He smiled at her then, knowing that this was a signal to him. He
walked with her up the hill, her mother close behind them. But it was impossible for the
two young people to keep their bodies from brushing against each other and once
Apollonia stumbled and fell against him so that he had to hold her and her body so
warm and alive in his hands started a deep wave of blood rising in his body. They could
not see the mother behind them smiling because her daughter was a mountain goat and
had not stumbled on this path since she was an infant in diapers. And smiling because
this was the only way this young man was going to get his hands on her daughter until
the marriage.
This went on for two weeks. Michael brought her presents every time he came and
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gradually she became less shy. But they could never meet without a chaperone being
present. She was just a village girl, barely literate, with no idea of the world, but she had
a freshness, an eagerness for life that, with help of the language barrier, made her
seem interesting. Everything went very swiftly at Michael's request. And because the
girl was not only fascinated by him but knew he must be rich, a wedding date was set
for the Sunday two weeks away.