Once Upon a Time in America (The Hoods) / Однажды в Америке (Бандиты). Гарри ГрейЧитать онлайн книгу.
g, called out, “I had enough, Max.”
Maxie turned his head, he was breathing easy. “The trouble with you, Dommie, is that you eat too much spaghetti. Some day you’ll be sorry.”
Dominick dropped out. We continued downtown, changing pace, running fast one block, then slowing up the next. We made our way downtown to the financial district. We stopped and rested at the curb. An immense building was in front of us. The windows were covered with thick iron bars. The entrance was a heavy steel door.
Patsy remarked, “It looks like a prison.”
“There’s no prison down here,” I said.
Patsy said, “How do you know?”
Maxie laughed, “Don’t argue with Noodles. He knows everything.”
He called out to a passer-by, “Hey, mister.” The man stopped.
“Yes?”
“What kind of building is that, a prison?”
The man smiled. “A prison? No, that’s where they keep all the money.” Patsy interestedly asked, “A lot of money?”
“Why, yes.” The man was amused. “Quite a few million. That’s the Federal Reserve.”
He walked away smiling.
Maxie walked over and tried to look in. He came back and said, “Some day we’re gonna heist this joint. What do you think, Noodles?”
“It’s okay with me, but it looks tough,” I said. “How you going to heist this joint?”
Maxie replied, “Don’t worry, I’ll find out some day.”
I looked at Maxie. He was staring at the building.
He muttered, “For a million bucks I’ll heist this joint some day.”
We ran all the way back to Gelly’s candy store. Dominick was standing outside, talking to Fat Moe’s pretty brunette sister, the untouchable Dolores[74]. We all had a secret crush on her.[75] She had a pair of dancing shoes slung over her left shoulder.
She smiled when she saw us approaching. Her greeting was only for Cockeye.
“Hello, Hy,” she said, “do you mind playing for me tonight while I practice?” “Sure, Dolores, it’s a pleasure.” Cockeye was overcome with delight.
They went to the back room of the store. We followed and watched as Dolores changed her shoes and went into her dance. She improvised a dance to Cockeye’s playing a harmonica. Her limb movements thrilled me. My eyes followed her every motion as she pirouetted easily, gracefully, around and around. She stopped after awhile to catch her breath. She sat talking to Cockeye.
Maxie called out to her, “Hey, Dolores.” She turned and stared coldly at him.
“Hay[76] is for horses. Who do you think you’re talking to? I’m not accustomed to being addressed in that manner.”
She turned her back to Max and continued her conversation with Cockeye. That was the moment I felt my first deep infatuation for Dolores. It was a clean, uplifting emotion, entirely different from the feeling which Peggy or other neighborhood girls inspired in me. Looking at her sitting on the chair, I felt she was like a dancing angel. I loved Dolores.
I smiled and walked over to her. “What kind of dancing is that? What do they call it?”
She looked haughtily over her shoulder. “I thought you knew everything. That was free dancing. You’re not as smart as you think you are.”
I stood there, red-faced, at a loss for an answer.
Cockeye volunteered, “Dolores is practicing to be a professional dancer. She’s going to be a star in a Broadway show some day.”
She floated around the room again in time to the music. Her attentions to Cockeye didn’t seem to bother me in the least. It was Maxie who aroused my jealousy. While she was dancing, Max picked up her shoes and threw them behind the bench.
She stopped after that number, smiled at Cockeye and said: “Thanks very much, Hy. You play that harmonica beautifully.”
Cockeye blushed and mumbled something. She looked angrily around for her shoes. I walked behind the bench and picked them up and handed them to her. She misunderstood. She gave me a furious look. Without a word she put them on. I could have killed Max. She left the room, her green eyes flashing and her head held high.
Unhappily, without a word, I walked outside. I stood in the doorway, feeling as if the world had crumbled around me. Dolores meant a lot to me, and Maxie had loused me up with her.
His voice cut through my unhappy mood: “You wanna Sweet Caporal, Noodles?”
Maxie offered me a cigarette. I took his peace offering.
We stood there smoking. Mr. Gelly came walking down the street.
When he reached his doorway he whispered: “You boys bring me some bundles in the morning?”
Maxie nodded and said, “Yep, don’t we always supply you with morning papers?” He patted Maxie on the head.
“Pick me up a bundle of Tageblatts[77] tomorrow, yeh?”
Maxie said, “Yep. We get up early tomorrow, Noodles.”
I nodded. “What time?”
“About four-thirty, I’ll meet you on the corner.”
We stood there, finding it dififcult to make conversation.
A customer made for the door. We stood aside with respect for the well-dressed “Professor.” We felt pride and pleasure when he greeted us with a pleasant smile.
“How are you boys?”
“Okay, Professor,” Max said. “Fine, Professor,” I echoed.
“You boys wait for me, I’ll be right out.”
Max said, “Sure, Professor.” We saw him enter the telephone booth.
“He’s smart; he’s got plenty of brains, that guy. He’s only out of jail a week, and I’ll bet he’s back handling ‘junk[78].’ I wonder where he gets the stuff,” Maxie mused.
“He’s got connections.[79] He imports it, I guess. It don’t grow in this country,” I said importantly; in my know-it-all manner.
“From where do you think, Noodles – Italy?”
“Could be, maybe China. Chinks[80] smoke it mostly, I read somewhere.” “Why do people smoke opium?”
“It gives them nice dreams. I would like to smoke a pipe of that stuff sometimes.” Max said, “Me, too. That’s what they call kicking the gong around[81], hey, Noodles?” I nodded and smiled.
The Professor came out, pufnif g on a big cigar.
“I have a job for you boys; follow me down to my place,” he whispered.
We walked behind him in the dark until we got into a back room. He struck a match and lit the gaslight. The Professor had a complete workshop there. On a bench there was a large wooden box with the lid open. Inside, I could see some gears and wheels. Max and I walked up close to it. The box was highly polished and looked out of place in that dirty cellar. The Professor stood there looking at us.
Maxie
недотрога Долорес
Мы все были втайне влюблены в неё.
Омофония слов hey – «эй» и hay – «сено».
«Тагеблат», ежедневная газета.
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