The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
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seeing their men doing too well. It irritated them. It made them less sure of the hold they 
exerted over them through affection, sexual custom or marriage ties. So more to cheer 
her up than voice his own complaints, Johnny said, “What the hell difference does it 
make if I can’t sing.” 
Virginia’s voice was annoyed. “Oh, Johnny, you’re not a kid anymore. You’re over 
thirty-five. Why do you keep worrying about that silly singing stuff? You make more 
money as a producer anyhow.” 
Johnny looked at her curiously and said, “I’m a singer. I love to sing. What’s being old 
got to do with that?” 
Virginia was impatient. “I never liked your singing anyway. Now that you’ve shown you 
can make movies, I’m glad you can’t sing anymore.” 
They were both surprised when Johnny said with fury, “That’s a fucking lousy thing to 
say.” He was shaken. How could Virginia feel like that, how could she dislike him so 
much? 
Virginia smiled at his being hurt and because it was so outrageous that he should be 
angry at her she said, “How do you think I felt when all those girls came running after 
you because of the way you sang? How would you feel if I went ass-naked down the 
street to get men running after me? That’s what your singing was and I used to wish 
you’d lose your voice and could never sing again. But that was before we got divorced.” 
Johnny finished his drink. “You don’t understand a thing. Not a damn thing.” He went 
into the kitchen and dialed Nino’s number. He quickly arranged for them both to go 
down to Palm Springs for the weekend and gave Nino the number of a girl to call, a real 
fresh young beauty he’d been meaning to get around to. “She’ll have a friend for you,” 
Johnny said. “I’ll be at your place in an hour.” 
Virginia gave him a cool good-bye when he left. He didn’t give a damn, it was one of the 
few times he was angry with her. The hell with it, he’d just tear loose for the weekend 
and get all the poison out of his system. 
Sure enough, everything was fine down in Palm Springs. Johnny used his own house 
down there, it was always kept open and staffed this time of year. The two girls were 
young enough to be great fun and not too rapacious for some kind of favor. Some 
people came over to keep them company at the pool until suppertime. Nino went to his 
room with his girl to get ready for supper and a quick bang while he was still warm from 
the sun. Johnny wasn’t in the mood, so he sent his girl, a short bandbox blonde named 

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