Английский язык с Крестным Отцом
Шрифт:
air. His body leaped upward like a fish, his face was gorged with blood, his eyes bulging.
Jules appeared on the other side of the bed facing Johnny and Lucy. He took Nino by
the neck and held him still and plunged the needle into the shoulder near where it joined
the neck. Nino went limp in his hands, the heaves of his body subsided, and after a
moment he slumped down back onto his pillow. His eyes closed in sleep.
Johnny, Lucy and Jules went back into the living room part of the suite and sat around
the huge solid coffee table. Lucy picked up one of the aquamarine phones and ordered
coffee and some food to be sent up. Johnny had gone over to the bar and mixed himself
a drink.
"Did you know he would have that reaction from the whiskey?" Johnny asked.
Jules shrugged. "I was pretty sure he would."
Johnny said sharply, "Then why didn't you warn me?"
"I warned you," Jules said.
"You didn't warn me right," Johnny said with cold anger. "You are really one hell of a
190
doctor. You don't give a shit. You tell me to get Nino in a crazy house, you don't bother
to use a nice word like sanitorium. You really like to stick it to people, right?"
Lucy was staring down in her lap. Jules kept smiling at Fontane. "Nothing was going
to stop you from giving Nino that drink. You had to show you didn't have to accept my
warnings, my orders. Remember when you offered me a job as your personal physician
after that throat business? I turned you down because I knew we could never get along.
A doctor thinks he's God, he's the high priest in modern society, that's one of his
rewards. But you would never treat me that way. I'd be a flunky God to you. Like those
doctors you guys have in Hollywood. Where do you get those people from anyway?
Christ, don't they know anything or don't they just care? They must know what's
happening to Nino but they just give him all kinds of drugs to keep him going. They wear
those silk suits and they kiss your ass because you're a power movie man and so you
think they are great doctors. Show biz, docs, you gotta have heart? Right? But they
don't give a fuck if you live or die. Well, my little hobby, unforgivable as it is, is to keep
people alive. I let you give Nino that drink to show you what could happen to him." Jules
leaned toward Johnny Fontane, his voice still calm, unemotional. "Your friend is almost
terminal. Do you understand that? He hasn't got a chance without therapy and strict
medical care. His blood pressure and diabetes and bad habits can cause a cerebral
hemorrhage in this very next instant. His brain will blow itself apart. Is that vivid enough
for you? Sure, I said crazy house. I want you to understand what's needed. Or you won't
make a move. I'll put it to you straight. You can save your buddy's life by having him
committed. Otherwise kiss him good-bye."
Lucy murmured, "Jules, darling, Jules, don't be so tough. Just tell him."
Jules stood up. His usual cool was gone, Johnny Fontane noticed with satisfaction.
His voice too had lost its quiet unaccented monotone.
"Do you think this is the first time I've had to talk to people like you in a situation like
this?" Jules said. "I did it every day. Lucy says don't be so tough, but she doesn't know
what she's talking about. You know, I used to tell people, 'Don't eat so much or you'll die,
don't smoke so much or you'll die, don't work so much or you'll die, don't drink so much
or you'll die.' Nobody listens. You know why? Because I don't say, 'You will die
tomorrow.' Well, I can tell you that Nino may very well die tomorrow."
Jules went over to the bar and mixed himself another drink. "How about it, Johnny,
are you going to get Nino committed?"
Johnny said, "I don't know."
191
Jules took a quick drink at the bar and filled his glass again. "You know, it's a funny
thing, you can smoke yourself to death, drink yourself to death, work yourself to death
and even eat yourself to death. But that's all acceptable. The only thing you can't do
medically is screw yourself to death and yet that's where they put all the obstacles." He
paused to finish his drink. "But even that's trouble, for women anyway. I used to have
women who weren't supposed to have any more babies. 'It's dangerous,' I'd tell them.
'You could die,' I'd tell them. And a month later they pop in, their faces all rosy, and say,
'Doctor, I think I'm pregnant,' and sure enough they'd kill the rabbit. 'But it's dangerous,'
I'd tell them. My voice used to have expression in those days. And they'd smile at me
and say, 'But my husband and I are very strict Catholics,' they'd say."
There was a knock on the door and two waiters wheeled in a cart covered with food
and silver service coffeepots. They took a portable table from the bottom of the cart and
set it up. Then Johnny dismissed them.
They sat at the table and ate the hot sandwiches Lucy had ordered and drank the
coffee. Johnny leaned back and lit up a cigarette. "So you save lives. How come you