The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
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belly and the insides of her thighs. He stood up, struggling out of his own bathing shorts 
and embracing her, and then, naked in each other’s arms, they were lying on his bed 
and she could feel him entering her and it was enough, just the slight touch, for her to 
reach her climax and then in the second afterward she could read in the motions of his 
body, his surprise. She felt the overwhelming shame she had felt before she knew 
Sonny, but Jules was twisting her body over the edge of the bed, positioning her legs a 
certain way and she let him control her limbs and her body, and then he was entering 
her again and kissing her and this time she could feel him but more important she could 
tell that he was feeling something too and coming to his climax. 
When he rolled off her body, Lucy huddled into one corner of the bed and began to cry. 
She felt so ashamed. And then she was shockingly surprised to hear Jules laugh softly 
and say, “You poor benighted Eye-talian girl, so that’s why you kept refusing me all 
these months? You dope.” He said “you dope” with such friendly affection that she 
turned toward him and he took her naked body against his saying, “You are medieval, 
you are positively medieval.” But the voice was soothingly comforting as she continued 
to weep. 
Jules lit a cigarette and put it in her mouth so that she choked on the smoke and had to 
stop crying. “Now listen to me,” he said, “if you had had a decent modern raising with a 
family culture that was part of the twentieth century your problem would have been 
solved years ago. Now let me tell you what your problem is: it’s not the equivalent of 
being ugly, of having bad skin and squinty eyes that facial surgery really doesn’t solve. 
Your problem is like having a wart or a mole on your chin, or an improperly formed ear. 
Stop thinking of it in sexual terms. Stop thinking in your head that you have a big box no 
man can love because it won’t give his penis the necessary friction. What you have is a 
pelvic malformation and what we surgeons call a weakening of the pelvic floor. It usually 
comes after child-bearing but it can be simply bad bone structure. It’s a common 
condition and many women live a life of misery because of it when a simple operation 
could fix them up. Some women even commit suicide because of it. But I never figured 
you for that condition because yon have such a beautiful body. I thought it was 
psychological, since I know your story, you told it to me often enough, you and Sonny. 
But let me give you a thorough physical examination and I can tell you just exactly how 
much work will have to be done. Now go in and take a shower.” 
Lucy went in and took her shower. Patiently and over her protests, Jules made her lie on 
the bed, legs spread apart. He had an extra doctor’s bag in his apartment and it was 

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