"Laura Resnick - Under a Sky More Fiercely Blue" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Laura)

set me up." He sighed and lit another cigarette. A fresh one, not the good one
he had thrown to the ground. Such waste amazed me.
"You were sent by the Americans," I said. "But you are not American."
He didn't agree, and I saw then that, unlike my neighbor Signor
Cataldo, this was a Sicilian who had never intended to come back home. He
closed his eyes and admitted, "I was born here. In Lercara Friddi."
"Then they should have sent you to Lercara Friddi, so your family could
help you."
That made him grin. "You could say I've got family in Villalba, too."
"Oh." I thought it over. "If you're going to Villalba, you'll have to
be very careful. The soldiers are very strict."
"I'll need help."
"You're a stranger here. Who will help you?"
His smile was more subtle this time, as if I had said something very
naive. "You don't know who I am, do you?"
He said it formally, in good Italian -- _Lei non sa chi io sono_. His
tone almost made a joke of it, because he was confident that if my eyes had
not been so dazzled by the spectacle of his parachute, I would have seen
immediately, as anyone could see, that he was a man of respect. A friend of
the friends -- _un amico degli amici_. My face flushed with shame at my
foolishness.
"You are of the Society," I whispered, afraid to say it aloud. Then I
frowned. "You live in America?"
"Well, that remains to be seen." His voice was rueful.
"Born in Lercara Friddi..." It was as if the Madonna whispered his name
in my ear then, for I knew instantly who he was. My throat filled with awe as
I cried, "Luciano!" Then, horrified that I had thrown his name so carelessly
to the wind, I clapped a hand over my mouth and backed away.
"Hey, it's okay, kid, calm down. If there's any spot in Italy more
godforsaken and lonely than this, I'd be surprised. No one heard you."
I let my hand drop and continued to stare in wonder. "_Luciano_," I
breathed. "_Il capo di tutti capi_."
"Cut that shit out." He shook his head and grinned again. "Ain't you
heard, Toto? I modernized things in America. We don't do things the old way
anymore. There's no boss of all bosses. I'm more like a chairman of the
board."
I bit my lip, embarrassed at my indiscretion. No matter how they did
things in America, there were many things which we never even said out loud in
Sicily. This was my first encounter with such a powerful man, and, wishing to
make a good impression, I searched for something to say. "Signor Cataldo




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returned to our village the year before the war started," I told Luciano. "He
was in America for twenty years and came home a wealthy man. He owns a _car_."
"Uh-huh."
He was clearly unimpressed. I decided not to mention the _signore's_
other fabulous possessions, and said only, "He has told us many tales about