[TheStellarEnsemble.com] The Godfather - Mario Puzo

can walk out of here and see your quack buddy or sweat while you decide to see another doctor,or get referred to somebody incompetent. Then if it’s malignant and gets big enough they’ll cutout your whole larynx or you’ll die. Or you can just sweat. Stick here with me and we can get itall squared away in a few hours. You got anything more important to do?”Valenti said, “Let’s stick around, Johnny, what the hell. I’ll go down the hall and call thestudio. I won’t tell them anything, just that we’re held up. Then I’ll come back here and keep youcompany.”It proved to be a very long afternoon but a rewarding one. The diagnosis of the staffthroat man was perfectly sound as far as Jules could see after the X rays and swab analysis.Halfway through, Johnny Fontane, his mouth soaked with iodine, retching over the roll of gauzestuck in his mouth, tried to quit. Nino Valenti grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed himback into a chair. When it was all over Jules grinned at Fontane and said, “Warts.”Fontane didn’t grasp it. Jules said again. “Just some warts. We’ll slice them right off likeskin off baloney. In a few months you’ll be OK.”Valenti let out a yell but Fontane was still frowning. “How about singing afterward, howwill it affect my singing?”Jules shrugged. “On that there’s no guarantee. But since you can’t sing now what’s thedifference?”Fontane looked at him with distaste. “Kid, you don’t know what the hell you’re talkingabout. You act like you’re giving me good news when what you’re telling me is maybe I won’tsing anymore. Is that right, maybe I won’t sing anymore?”Finally Jules was disgusted. He’d operated as a real doctor and it had been a pleasure. Hehad done this bastard a real favor and he was acting as if he’d been done dirt. Jules said coldly,“Listen, Mr. Fontane, I’m a doctor of medicine and you can call me Doctor, not kid. And I didgive you very good news. When I brought you down here I was certain that you had a malignantgrowth in your larynx which would entail cutting out your whole voice box. Or which could killyou. I was worried that I might have to tell you that you were a dead man. And I was sodelighted when I could say the word ‘warts.’ Because your singing gave me so much pleasure,helped me seduce girls when I was younger and you’re a real artist. But also you’re a veryspoiled guy. Do you think because you’re Johnny Fontane you can’t get cancer? Or a braintumor that’s inoperable. Or a failure of the heart? Do you think you’re never going to die? Well,280