[TheStellarEnsemble.com] The Godfather - Mario Puzo

the gun Clemenza had given him to use in the hijacking of the silk truck.Fanucci came promptly at nine in the evening. Vito Corleone set out a jug of homemadewine that Clemenza had given him.Fanucci put his white fedora on the table beside the jug of wine. He loosened his broadmultiflowered tie, its tomato stains camouflaged by the bright patterns. The summer night washot, the gaslight feeble. It was very quiet in the apartment. But Vito Corleone was icy. To showhis good faith he handed over the roll of bills and watched carefully as Fanucci, after counting it,took out a wide leather wallet and stuffed the money inside. Fanucci sipped his glass of wine andsaid, “You still owe me two hundred dollars.” His heavy-browed face was expressionless.Vito Corleone said in his cool reasonable voice, “I’m a little short, I’ve been out of work.Let me owe you the money for a few weeks.”This was a permissible gambit. Fanucci had the bulk of the money and would wait. Hemight even be persuaded to take nothing more or to wait a little longer. He chuckled over hiswine and said, “Ah, you’re a sharp young fellow. How is it I’ve never noticed you before?You’re too quiet a chap for your own interest. I could find some work for you to do that wouldbe very profitable.”Vito Corleone showed his interest with a polite nod and filled up the man’s glass from thepurple jug. But Fanucci thought better of what he was going to say and rose from his chair andshook Vito’s hand. “Good night, young fellow,” he said. “No hard feelings, eh? If I can ever doyou a service let me know. You’ve done a good job for yourself tonight.”Vito let Fanucci go down the stairs and out the building. The street was thronged withwitnesses to show that he had left the Corleone home safely. Vito watched from the window. Hesaw Fanucci turn the corner toward Fifth Avenue and knew he was headed toward his apartment,probably to put away his loot before coming out on the streets again. Perhaps to put away his gun.Vito Corleone left his apartment and ran up the stairs to the roof. He traveled over the squareblock of roofs and descended down the steps of an empty loft building fire escape that left him inthe back yard. He kicked the back door open and went through the front door. Across the streetwas Fanucci’s tenement apartment house.The village of tenements extended only as far west as Tenth Avenue. Eleventh Avenuewas mostly warehouses and lofts rented by firms who shipped by New York Central Railroadand wanted access to the freight yards that honeycombed the area from Eleventh Avenue to the179