It. She found herself quite interested.

"It's a health thing too," Jules said. "If you don't get it corrected you're going to have a

hell of a lot of trouble later on with your whole plumbing system (водопроводная

система; plumb [plΛm] – отвес; лот, грузило). The structure becomes progressively

weaker unless it's corrected by surgery. It's a damn shame that old-fashioned prudery

([‘pru:d∂rı] – излишняя или притворная стыдливость) keeps a lot of doctors from

properly diagnosing and correcting the situation, and a lot of women from complaining

about it."

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www.franklang.ru

"Don't talk about it, please don't talk about it," Lucy

said.

139

He could see that she was still to some extent ashamed of her secret, embarrassed

by her "ugly defect." Though to his medically trained mind this seemed the height of

silliness, he was sensitive enough to identify with her. It also put him on the right track to

making her feel better.

"OK, I know your secret so now I'll tell you mine," he said. "You always ask me what

I'm doing in this town, one of the youngest and most brilliant surgeons in the East." He

was mocking some newspaper reports about himself. "The truth is that I'm an

abortionist, which in itself is not so bad, so is half the medical profession; but I got

caught. I had a friend, a doctor named Kennedy, we interned (intern – студент

медицинского колледжа или молодой врач, работающий в больнице и живущий

при ней) together, and he's a really straight guy but he said he'd help me. I understand

Tom Hagen had told him if he ever needed help on anything the Corleone Family was

indebted to him. So he spoke to Hagen. The next thing I know the charges were

dropped, but the Medical Association and the Eastern establishment had me black-

listed. So the Corleone Family got me this job out here. I make a good living. I do a job

that has to be done. These show girls are always getting knocked up and aborting them

is the easiest thing in the world if they come to me right away. I curette (кюретка /хир./;

выскабливать кюреткой [kju∂'ret]) 'em like you scrape a frying pan. Freddie Corleone

is a real terror. By my count he's knocked up fifteen girls while I've been here. I've

seriously considered giving him a father-to-son talk about sex. Especially since I've had

to treat him three times for clap (триппер) and once for syphilis. Freddie is the original

bareback (без седла, на неоседланной лошади) rider."

Jules stopped talking. He had been deliberately indiscreet, something he never did, so

that Lucy would know that other people, including someone she knew and feared a little

like Freddie Corleone, also had shameful secrets.

"Think of it as a piece of elastic in your body that has lost its elasticity," Jules said. "By

cutting out a piece, you make it tighter, snappier."

"I'll think about it," Lucy said, but she was sure she was going to go through with it,

she trusted Jules absolutely. Then she thought of something else. "How much will it

cost?"

Jules frowned. "I haven't the facilities here for surgery like that and I'm not the expert

at it. But I have a friend in Los Angeles who's the best in the field and has facilities at

the best hospital. In fact he tightens up all the movie stars, when those dames find out

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www.franklang.ru

140

that getting their faces and breasts lifted isn't the whole answer to making a man love

them. He owes me a few favors so it won't cost anything. I do his abortions for him.

Listen, if it weren't unethical I'd tell you the names of some of the movie sex queens

who have had the operation."

She was immediately curious. "Oh, come on, tell me," she said. "Come on." It would

be a delicious piece of gossip and one of the things about Jules was that she could

show her feminine love of gossip without him making fun of it.

"I'll tell you if you have dinner with me and spend the night with me," Jules said. "We

have a lot of lost time to make up for because of your silliness."

Lucy felt an overwhelming affection to him for being so kind and she was able to say,

"You don't have to sleep with me, you know you won't enjoy it the way I am now."

Jules burst out laughing. "You dope, you incredible dope. Didn't you ever hear of any

other way of making love, far more ancient, far more civilized. Are you really that