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Илья Франк
Английский язык с Крестным Отцом
(продолжение)
Mario Puzo
The Godfather
Book 2
Chapter 12
Johnny Fontane waved a casual dismissal to the manservant and said, "See you in
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the morning, Billy." The colored butler bowed his way out of the huge dining room-living
room with its view of the Pacific Ocean. It was a friendly-good-bye sort of bow, not a
servant's bow, and given only because Johnny Fontane had company for dinner.
Johnny's company was a girl named Sharon Moore, a New York City Greenwich
Village girl in Hollywood to try for a small part in a movie being produced by an old
flame who had made the big time. She had visited the set while Johnny was acting in
the Woltz movie. Johnny had found her young and fresh and charming and witty, and
had asked her to come to his place for dinner that evening. His invitations to dinner
were always famous and had the force of royalty and of course she said yes.
Sharon Moore obviously expected him to come on very strong because of his
reputation, but Johnny hated the Hollywood "piece of meat" approach. He never slept
with any girl unless there was something about her he really liked. Except, of course,
sometimes when he was very drunk and found himself in bed with a girl he didn't even
remember meeting or seeing before. And now that he was thirty-five years old, divorced
once, estranged (отделен, отдален) from his second wife, with maybe a thousand
pubic scalps dangling from his belt, he simply wasn't that eager. But there, was
something about Sharon Moore that aroused affection in him and so he had invited her
to dinner.
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He never ate much but he knew young pretty girls ambitiously starved themselves for
pretty clothes and were usually big eaters on a date so there was plenty of food on the
table. There was also plenty of liquor; champagne in a bucket, scotch, rye (хлебная
водка), brandy and liqueurs on the sideboard. Johnny served the drinks and the plates
of food already prepared. When they had finished eating he led her into the huge living
room with its glass wall that looked out onto the Pacific. He put a stack of Ella Fitzgerald
records on the hi-fi and settled on the couch with Sharon. He made a little small talk
with her, found out about what she had been like as a kid, whether she had been a
tomboy (девчонка-сорванец) or boy crazy, whether she had been homely or pretty,
lonely or gay. He always found these details touching, it always evoked the tenderness
he needed to make love.
They nestled together on the sofa, very friendly, very comfortable. He kissed her on
the lips, a cool friendly kiss, and when she kept it that way he left it that way. Outside
the huge picture window he could see the dark blue sheet of the Pacific lying flat
beneath the moonlight.
"How come you're not playing any of your records?" Sharon asked him. Her voice was
teasing. Johnny smiled at her. He was amused by her teasing him. "I'm not that
Hollywood," he said.
"Play some for me," she said. "Or sing for me. You know, like the movies. I'll bubble
