Into the sea or his ship sink beneath the waves of the ocean, if he should catch a mortal

fever, if his automobile should be struck by a train, such is my superstition that I would

blame the ill will felt by people here. Gentlemen, that ill will, that bad luck, I could never

forgive. But aside from that let me swear by the souls of my grandchildren that I will

never break the peace we have made. After all, are we or are we not better men than

those pezzonovanti who have killed countless millions of men in our lifetimes?"

With this Don Corleone stepped from his place and went down the table to where Don

Phillip Tattaglia was sitting. Tattaglia rose to greet him and the two men embraced,

kissing each other's cheeks. The other Dons in the room applauded and rose to shake

hands with everybody in sight and to congratulate Don Corleone and Don Tattaglia on

their new friendship. It was not perhaps the warmest friendship in the world, they would

not send each other Christmas gift greetings, but they would not murder each other.

That was friendship enough in this world, all that was needed.

Since his son Freddie was under the protection of the Molinari Family in the West,

Don Corleone lingered with the San Francisco Don after the meeting to thank him.

Molinari said enough for Don Corleone to gather that Freddie had found his niche out

there, was happy and had become something of a ladies' man. He had a genius for

running a hotel, it seemed. Don Corleone shook his head in wonder, as many fathers do

when told of undreamed-of talents in their children. Wasn't it true that sometimes the

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greatest misfortunes brought unforeseen rewards? They both agreed that this was so.

Meanwhile Corleone made it clear to the San Francisco Don that he was in his debt for

the great service done in protecting Freddie. He let it be known that his influence would

be exerted so that the important racing wires (проволока, обозначающая финиш на

скачках /под которую забегают кони на финише/) would always be available to his

people no matter what changes occurred in the power structure in the years to come, an

important guarantee since the struggle over this facility was a constant open wound

complicated by the fact that the Chicago people had their heavy hand in it. But Don

Corleone was not without influence even in that land of barbarians and so his promise

was a gift of gold.

It was evening before Don Corleone, Tom Hagen and the bodyguard-chauffeur, who

happened to be Rocco Lampone, arrived at the mall in Long Beach. When they went

into the house the Don said to Hagen, "Our driver, that man Lampone, keep an eye on

him. He's a fellow worth something better I think." Hagen wondered at this remark.

Lampone had not said a word all day, had not even glanced at the two men in the back

seat. He had opened the door for the Don, the car had been in front of the bank when

they emerged, he had done everything correctly but no more than any well-trained

chauffeur might do. Evidently the Don's eye had seen something he had not seen.

The Don dismissed Hagen and told him to come back to the house after supper. But

to take his time and rest a little since they would put in a long night of discussion. He

also told Hagen to have Clemenza and Tessio present. They should come at ten P.M.,

not before. Hagen was to brief Clemenza and Tessio on what had happened at the

meeting that afternoon.

At ten the Don was waiting for the three men in his office, the corner room of the

house with its law library and special phone. There was a tray with whiskey bottles, ice

and soda water. The Don gave his instructions.

"We made the peace this afternoon." he said. "I gave my word and my honor and that

should be enough for all of you. But our friends are not so trustworthy so let's all be on

our guard still. We don't want any more nasty little surprises." Then Don turned to

Hagen. "You've let the Bocchicchio hostages go?"

Hagen nodded. "I called Clemenza as soon as I got home."

Corleone turned to the massive Clemenza. The caporegime nodded. "I released them.

Tell me, Godfather, is it possible for a Sicilian to be as dumb as the Bocchicchios

pretend to be?"

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Don Corleone smiled a little. "They are clever enough to make a good living. Why is it

so necessary to be more clever than that? It's not the Bocchicchios who cause the

troubles of this world. But it's true, they haven't got the Sicilian head."

They were all in a relaxed mood, now that the war was over. Don Corleone himself

mixed drinks and brought one to each man. The Don sipped his carefully and lit up a

cigar.

"I want nothing set forth to discover what happened to Sonny, that's done with and to

be forgotten. I want all cooperation with the other Families even if they become a little

greedy and we don't get our proper share in things. I want nothing to break this peace

no matter what the provocation until we've found a way to bring Michael home. And I

want that to be first thing on your minds. Remember this, when he comes back he must

come back in absolute safety. I don't mean from the Tattaglias or the Barzinis. What I'm

concerned about are the police. Sure, we can get rid of the real evidence against him;

that waiter won't testify, nor that spectator or gunman or whatever he was. The real

evidence is the least of our worries since we know about it. What we have to worry

about is the police framing false evidence because their informers have assured them

that Michael Corleone is the man who killed their captain. Very well. We have to

demand that the Five Families do everything in their power to correct this belief of the

police. All their informers who work with the police must come up with new stories. I

think after my speech this afternoon they will understand it is to their interest to do so.

But that's not enough. We have to come up with something special so Michael won't

ever have to worry about that again. Otherwise there's no point in him coming back to

this country. So let's all think about that. That's the most important matter.

"Now, any man should be allowed one foolishness in his life. I have had mine. I want

all the land around the mall bought, the houses bought. I don't want any man able to

look out his window into my garden even if it's a mile away. I want a fence around the

mall and I want the mall to be on full protection all the time. I want a gate in that fence.