Amerigo Bonasera
sat in New York Criminal Court Number 3 and waited for justice; vengeance on
the men who had so cruelly hurt his daughter, who had tried to dishonor her.
The judge, a
formidably heavy-featured man, rolled up the sleeves of his black robe as if to
physically chastise the two young men standing before the bench. His face was
cold with majestic contempt. But there was something false in all this that
Amerigo Bonasera sensed but did not yet understand.
"You acted like the worst kind of
degenerates," the judge said harshly. Yes, yes, thought Amerigo Bonasera.
Animals. Animals. The two young men, glossy hair crew cut, scrubbed
clean-cut faces composed into humble contrition, bowed their heads in
submission.
The judge went on. "You acted like wild
beasts in a jungle and you are fortunate you did not sexually molest that poor
girl or I'd put you behind bars for twenty years." The judge paused, his
eyes beneath impressively thick brows moved cautiously toward the pale-faced
Amerigo Bonasera, then lowered to a stack of probation reports before him. He
frowned and shrugged as if convinced against his own natural desire. He spoke
again.
"But because of your youth, your clean
records, because of your fine families, and because the law in its majesty does
not seek vengeance, I hereby sentence you to three years' confinement to the
penitentiary. Sentence to be suspended."
Only forty years
of professional mourning kept the overwhelming frustration and hatred from
showing on Amerigo Bonasera's face. His beautiful young daughter was still in
the hospital with her broken jaw wired together; and now these two animales
went free? It had all been a farce. He watched the happy parents cluster around
their darling sons. Oh, they were all happy now, they were smiling now.
Crew cut, Jack Kerouac, 1943 |
The black bile,
sourly bitter, rose in Bonasera's throat, overflowed through tightly clenched
teeth. He used his white linen pocket handkerchief and held it against his
lips. He was standing so when the two young men walked freely up the aisle,
confident and cool-eyed, smiling, not giving him so much as a glance. He let
them pass without saying a word, pressing the fresh linen against his mouth.
The parents of
the animals were coming by now, two men and two women his age but more American
in their dress. They glanced at him, shamefaced, yet in their eyes was an odd,
triumphant defiance.
Out of control,
Bonasera leaned forward toward the aisle and shouted hoarsely, "You will
weep as I have wept--- I will make you weep as your children make me
weep"--- the linen at his eyes now. The defense attorneys bringing up the
rear swept their clients forward in a tight little band, enveloping the two
young men, who had started back down the aisle as if to protect their parents.
A huge bailiff moved quickly to
block the row in which Bonasera stood. But it was not necessary.
All his years in
America, Amerigo Bonasera had trusted in law and order. And he had prospered
thereby. Now, though his brain smoked with hatred, though wild visions of
buying a gun and killing the two young men exploding the very bones of his
skull, Bonasera turned to his still uncomprehending wife and explained to her,
"They have made fools of us." He paused and then made his decision,
no longer fearing the cost. "For justice we must go on our knees to Don
Corleone."
In a brightly decorated Los Angeles hotel
suite, Johnny Fontane was as jealously drunk as any ordinary husband. Sprawled
on a red couch, he drank straight from the bottle of scotch in his hand, then
washed the taste away by immersing his mouth in a crystal bucket of ice cubes
and water. It was four in the morning and he was spinning drunken fantasies of
murdering his promiscuous wife when she got home. If she ever did come home. It
was too late to call his first wife and ask about the kids and he felt funny
about calling any of his friends now that his career was plunging downhill.
There had been a time when they would have been delighted, flattered by his
calling them at four in the morning but now he bored them. He could even smile
a little to himself as he thought that on the way up Johnny Fontane's troubles
had fascinated some of the greatest female stars in America... (Excerpts from The Godfather,
by Mario Puzo, in easier English)
Vocabulario
Crew cut: pelo corto, graduado desde más largo
arriba a más corto hacia abajo. Otros nombres: tight cut, fade.
bailiff: oficial que da seguridad en una corte. Frecuentemente
estos oficiales son sheriff´s deputies marshals, corrections officers o constables.
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