Английский язык с Крестным Отцом
Шрифт:
pelvic (тазовый) malformation (неправильное образование, порок развития) 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 you 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
open. He also had a small glass-topped table by the bed which held some other
instruments. He was all business now, examining her, sticking his fingers inside her and
moving them around. She was beginning to feel humiliated when he kissed her on the
navel and said, almost absent-mindedly, "First time I've enjoyed my work." Then he
flipped her over and thrust a finger in her rectum, feeling around, but his other hand was
stroking her neck affectionately. When he was finished he turned her right side up again,
kissed her tenderly on the mouth and said, "Baby, I'm going to build you a whole new
thing down there, and then I'll try it out personally. It will be a medical first, I'll be able to
write a paper on it for the official journals."
Jules did everything with such good-humored affection, he so obviously cared for her,
that Lucy got over her shame and embarrassment. He even had the medical textbook
down off its shelf to show her a case like her own and the surgical procedure to correct
it. She found herself quite interested.
"It's a health thing too," Jules said. "If you don't get it corrected you're going to have a
hell of a lot of trouble later on with your whole plumbing system (водопроводная
система; plumb [plm] –
weaker unless it's corrected by surgery. It's a damn shame that old-fashioned prudery
([‘pru:dri] – излишняя или притворная стыдливость) keeps a lot of doctors from
properly diagnosing and correcting the situation, and a lot of women from complaining
about it."
"Don't talk about it, please don't talk about it," Lucy
said.
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He could see that she was still to some extent ashamed of her secret, embarrassed
by her "ugly defect." Though to his medically trained mind this seemed the height of
silliness, he was sensitive enough to identify with her. It also put him on the right track to
making her feel better.
"OK, I know your secret so now I'll tell you mine," he said. "You always ask me what
I'm doing in this town, one of the youngest and most brilliant surgeons in the East." He
was mocking some newspaper reports about himself. "The truth is that I'm an
abortionist, which in itself is not so bad, so is half the medical profession; but I got
caught. I had a friend, a doctor named Kennedy, we interned (intern –
студентмедицинского колледжа или молодой врач, работающий в больнице и живущий
при ней) together, and he's a really straight guy but he said he'd help me. I understand
Tom Hagen had told him if he ever needed help on anything the Corleone Family was
indebted to him. So he spoke to Hagen. The next thing I know the charges were
dropped, but the Medical Association and the Eastern establishment had me black-
listed. So the Corleone Family got me this job out here. I make a good living. I do a job
that has to be done. These show girls are always getting knocked up and aborting them
is the easiest thing in the world if they come to me right away. I curette (кюретка /хир./;
выскабливать кюреткой [kju'ret]) 'em like you scrape a frying pan. Freddie Corleone
is a real terror. By my count he's knocked up fifteen girls while I've been here. I've
seriously considered giving him a father-to-son talk about sex. Especially since I've had
to treat him three times for clap (триппер) and once for syphilis. Freddie is the original
bareback (без седла, на неоседланной лошади) rider."
Jules stopped talking. He had been deliberately indiscreet, something he never did, so
that Lucy would know that other people, including someone she knew and feared a little
like Freddie Corleone, also had shameful secrets.
"Think of it as a piece of elastic in your body that has lost its elasticity," Jules said. "By
cutting out a piece, you make it tighter, snappier."
"I'll think about it," Lucy said, but she was sure she was going to go through with it,
she trusted Jules absolutely. Then she thought of something else. "How much will it
cost?"
Jules frowned. "I haven't the facilities here for surgery like that and I'm not the expert
at it. But I have a friend in Los Angeles who's the best in the field and has facilities at
the best hospital. In fact he tightens up all the movie stars, when those dames find out
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that getting their faces and breasts lifted isn't the whole answer to making a man love
them. He owes me a few favors so it won't cost anything. I do his abortions for him.
Listen, if it weren't unethical I'd tell you the names of some of the movie sex queens