The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
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though he understood English very well despite his accent. 
One evening as Vito was having supper with his family there was a knock on the 
window that led to the open sir shaft that separated them from the next building. When 
Vito pulled aside the curtain he saw to his astonishment one of the young men in the 
neighborhood, Peter Clemenza, leaning out from a window on the other side of the air 
shaft. He was extending a white-sheeted bundle. 
“Hey, paisan,” Clemenza said. “Hold these for me until I ask for them. Hurry up.” 
Automatically Vito reached over the empty space of the air shaft and took the bundle. 
Clemenza’s face was strained and urgent. He was in some sort of trouble and Vito’s 
helping action was instinctive. But when he untied the bundle in his kitchen, there were 
five oily guns staining the white cloth. He put them in his bedroom closet and waited. He 
learned that Clemenza had been taken away by the police. They must have been 
knocking on his door when he handed the guns over the air shaft. 
Vito never said a word to anyone and of course his terrified wife dared not open her lips 
even in gossip for fear her own husband would be sent to prison. Two days later Peter 
Clemenza reappeared in the neighborhood and asked Vito casually, “Do you have my 
goods still?” 
Vito nodded. He was in the habit of talking little. Clemenza came up to his tenement flat 
and was given a glass of wine while Vito dug the bundle out of his bedroom closet. 
Clemenza drank his wine, his heavy good-natured face alertly watching Vito. “Did you 
look inside?” 
Vito, his face impassive, shook his head. “I’m not interested in things that don’t concern 
me,” he said. 
They drank wine together the rest of the evening. They found each other congenial. 
Clemenza was a storyteller; Vito Corleone was a listener to storytellers. They became 
casual friends. 
A few days later Clemenza asked the wife of Vito Corleone if she would like a fine rug 
for her living room floor. He took Vito with him to help carry the rug. 
Clemenza led Vito to an apartment house with two marble pillars and a white marble 
stoop. He used a key to open the door and they were inside a plush apartment. 
Clemenza grunted, “Go on the other side of the room and help me roll it up.” 
The rug was a rich red wool. Vito Corleone was astonished by Clemenza’s generosity. 

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