The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
125
It’s impossible to talk business with him.” 
Captain McCluskey grunted. “He’s a good kid, he’s all right.” He leaned over to give 
Michael an affectionate pat on the shoulder. “I’m sorry about the other night, Mike. I’m 
getting too old for my job, too grouchy. I guess I’ll have to retire pretty soon. Can’t stand 
the aggravation, all day I get aggravation. You know how it is.” Then with a doleful sigh, 
he gave Michael a thorough frisk for a weapon. 
Michael saw a slight smile on the driver’s lips. The car was going west with no apparent 
attempt to elude any trailers. It went up on to the West Side Highway, speeding in and 
out of traffic. Anyone following would have had to do the same. Then to Michael’s 
dismay it took the exit for the George Washington Bridge, they were going over to New 
Jersey. Whoever had given Sonny the info on where the meeting was to be held had 
given him the wrong dope. 
The car threaded through the bridge approaches and then was on it, leaving the blazing 
city behind. Michael kept his face impassive. Were they going to dump him into the 
swamps or was it just a last-minute change in meeting place by the wily Sollozzo? But 
when they were nearly all the way across, the driver gave the wheel a violent twist. The 
heavy automobile jumped into the air when it hit the divider and bounced over into the 
lanes going back to New York City. Both McCluskey and Sollozzo were looking back to 
see if anyone had tried doing the same thing. The driver was really hitting it back to New 
York and then they were off the bridge and going toward the East Bronx. They went 
through the side streets with no cars behind them. By this time it was nearly nine 
o’clock. They had made sure there was no one on their tail. Sollozzo lit up a cigarette 
after offering his pack to McCluskey and Michael, both of whom refused. Sollozzo said 
to the driver, “Nice work. I’ll remember it.” 
Ten minutes later the car pulled up in front of a restaurant in a small Italian 
neighborhood. There was no one on the streets and because of the lateness of the hour 
only a few people were still at dinner. Michael had been worried that the driver would 
come in with them, but he stayed outside with his car. The negotiator had not mentioned 
a driver, nobody had. Technically Sollozzo had broken the agreement by bringing him 
along. But, Michael decided not to mention it, knowing they would think he would be 
afraid to mention it, afraid of ruining the chances for the success of the parley. 
The three of them sat at the only round table, Sollozzo refusing a booth. There were 
only two other people in the restaurant. Michael wondered whether they were Sollozzo 

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