Up a discarded mandolin, put his left foot up on a chair and began to sing a

coarse Sicilian love song. Nino Valenti's face was handsome though bloated by

Continual drinking and he was already a little drunk. He rolled his eyes as his

Tongue caressed the obscene lyrics. The women shrieked with glee and the men

Shouted the last word of each stanza with the singer.

Don Corleone, notoriously straitlaced in such matters, though his stout wife

Was screaming joyfully with the others, disappeared tactfully into the house.

Seeing this, Sonny Corleone made his way to the bride's table and sat down

Beside young Lucy Mancini, the maid of honor. They were safe. His wife was in

The kitchen putting the last touches on the serving of the wedding cake. Sonny

whispered a few words in the young girl's ear and she rose. Sonny waited a few

Minutes and then casually followed her, stopping to talk with a guest here and

There as he worked his way through the crowd.

All eyes followed them. The maid of honor, thoroughly Americanized by three

years of college, was a ripe girl who already had a "reputation." All through the

Marriage rehearsals she had flirted with Sonny Corleone in a teasing, joking way

She thought was permitted because he was the best man and her wedding

Partner. Now holding her pink gown up off the ground, Lucy Mancini went into the