“The Godfather” By Mario Puzo 157
plummet on his sexual organ without even a courteous and friendly word of preparation.
He kept sipping his drink and watching the movie, but not tasting, not seeing. He was
excited in a way he had never been before but part of it was because this woman
servicing him in the dark had been the object of his adolescent dreams.
Yet in a way his masculinity was insulted. So when the world-famous Deanna Dunn was
sated and had tidied him up, he very coolly fixed her a fresh drink in the darkness and lit
her a fresh cigarette and said in the most relaxed voice imaginable, “This looks like a
pretty good movie.”
He felt her stiffen beside him on the couch. Could it be she was waiting for some sort of
compliment? Nino poured his glass full from the nearest bottle his hand touched in the
darkness. The hell with that. She’d treated him like a goddamn male whore. For some
reason now he felt a cold anger at all these women. They watched the picture for
another fifteen minutes. He leaned away from her so their bodies did not touch.
Finally she said in a low harsh whisper, “Don’t be such a snotty punk, you liked it. You
were as big as a house.”
Nino sipped his drink and said in his natural off-hand manner, “That’s the way it always
is. You should see it when I get excited.”
She laughed a little and kept quiet for the rest of the picture. Finally it was over and the
lights went on. Nino took a look around. He could see there had been a ball here in the
darkness though oddly enough he hadn’t heard a thing. But some of the dames had that
hard, shiny, brighteyed look of women who had just been worked over real good. They
sauntered out of the projection room. Deanna Dunn left him immediately to go over and
talk to an older man Nino recognized as a famous featured player, only now, seeing the
guy in person, he realized that he was a fag. He sipped his drink thoughtfully.
Johnny Fontane came up beside him and said, “Hi, old buddy, having a good time?”
Nino grinned. “I don’t know. It’s different. Now when I go back to the old neighborhood I
can say Deanna Dunn had me.”
Johnny laughed. “She can be better than that if she-invites you home with her. Did
she?”
Nino shook his head. “I got too interested in the movie,” he said. But this time Johnny
didn’t laugh.
“Get serious, kid,” he said. “A dame like that cn do you a lot of good. And you used to