The Last Leaf
our story today is called the last leaf was written by oh Henry here is Barbara Klein with the story many artists lived in the Greenwich Village area of New York two young women named sue and johnny shared a studio apartment at the top of a three-story building John Z's real name was Joanna in November a cold unseen stranger came to visit the city this disease pneumonia killed many people johnson lay on her bed hardly movingshe looked through the small window she could see the side of the brick house next to her building one morning a doctor examined Johnse and took her temperature then he spoke with Sue in another room she has one chance inlet us say ten he said and that chance is for her to want to live your friend has made up her mind that
she is not going to get well has she anything on her mind she wanted to paint the Bay of Naples in Italy someday said sue paint said the doctor Bosch has her anything on her mind worth thinking twice a man for example, a man said sue is a man worth but no doctor there is nothing of the kind I will do all that science can do said the doctor but whenever my patient begins to count the carriages at her funeral
I take away 50% from the curative power of medicines after the doctor had gone Sue went into the workroom and cried then she went to John Z's room with her drawing board whistling ragtime Jhansi lay with her face toward the window sue stopped whistling thinking she was asleep she began making a pen and ink drawing for the story in a magazine young artists must work their way to art by taking pictures for magazine stories, sue heard a low sound several times repeated she went quickly to the bedside Jhansi's eyes were open wide she was looking out the window and counting backward twelve
she said and a little later eleven and then ten and nine and then eight and seven almost together sue looked out the window what was there to count there was only an empty yard and the blank side of the house seven meters away from an old ivy vine going bad at the roots climbed halfway up the wall the cold breath of autumn had stricken leaves from the plant until its branches almost bare hung on the bricks what is it dear asked sue six said johnson quietly they're falling faster now three days ago there we're almost a hundred it made my head hurt to count them but now it's easy there goes another one there are only five left now five what dear asks ooh leaves on the plant when the last one Falls
I must go to I've known that for three days didn't the doctor tell you oh I never heard of such a thing said sue what have old ivy leaves to do with your getting well and you used to love that vine don't be silly why the doctor told me this morning that your chances for getting well real soon were let's see exactly what he said he said the chances were ten to one try to eat some soup now and let me go back to my drawing
so I can sell it to the magazine and buy food and wine for us you needn't get any more wine said johnson keeping her eyes fixed out the window there goes another one no I don't want any soup that leaves just four I want to see the last one fall before it gets dark then I'll go to John C dear said sue will you promise me to keep your eyes closed and not look out the window until I'm done working I must hand those drawings in by tomorrow tell me as soon as you have finished said johnson closing her eyes and lying white and still, as a fallen statue, I want to see the last one fall I'm tired of waiting I'm tired of thinking
I want to turn loose my hold on everything and goes sailing down just like one of those poor tired leaves try to sleep said sue I must call Mr. Behrman up to be my model for my drawing of an old miner don't try to move until I come back old Behrman was a painter who lived on the ground floor of the apartment building Behrman was a failure in the art for years he had always been planning to paint a work of art but had never yet begun it he earned a little money by serving as a model to artists who could not pay for the professional model he was a fierce the little old man who protected the two young women in the studio apartment above him, sue found Behrman in his room in one area was a blank canvas that had been waiting 25 years for the first line of paint, she told him about Johnse and how
she feared that her friend would float away like a leaf old Behrman was angered at such an idea are their people in the world with the foolishness to die because leaves drop off a vine why do you let that silly business come in her brain she is very sick and weak said sue and the disease has left her mind full of strange ideas, this is not any place in which one so good as Miss johnny shall lie sick yelled Behrman someday I will paint a masterpiece and we shall all go away Jhansi was leaping when they went upstairs sue pulled the shade down to cover the window she and Behrman went into the other room they looked out a window fearfully at the ivy vine then they looked at each other without speaking a cold rain was falling mixed with snow Behrman sat and posed as the miner The next morning sue awoke after an hour's sleep she found John Z with wide-open eyes staring at the covered window pull up the shade
I want to see she ordered quietly sue obeyed after the beating rain and fierce wind that blew through the night there yet stood against the wall one ivy leaf it was the last one on the vine was still dark green at the center but its edges were colored with the yellow it hung bravely from the branch about seven meters above the ground it is the last one said John see I thought it would surely fall during the night I heard the wind it will fall today and I shall die at the same time dear said sue leaning her worn face toward the bed think of me if you won't think of yourself what would I do but John Z did not answer the next morning when it was light Jhansi demanded that the window shade be raised the ivy leaf was still there Jhansi lay for a long time looking at it and then
she called to sue who was preparing chicken soup I've been a bad girl said johns something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how bad I was it is wrong to want to die you may bring me a little soup now an hour later she said someday I hope to paint the Bay of Naples later in the day the doctor came and Sue talked to him in the hallway even Chances said the doctor with good care you'll win and now I must see another case I have in your building Behrman his name is some kind of an artist's
I believe pneumonia - he is an old weak man and his case is severe there's no hope for him but he goes to the hospital today to ease his pain The next day the doctor said to sue she's out of danger, you won nutrition and care now that's all later that day sue came to the bed where Jhansi lay and put one arm around her I have something to tell you white mouse she said, Mr. Behrman died of pneumonia today in the hospital he was sick only two days they found him the morning of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with pain his shoes and clothes were completely wet and icy cold they could not imagine where
he had been on such a terrible night and then they found a lantern still lighted and they found a ladder that had been moved from its place and art supplies and a painting board with green and yellow colors mixed on it and look out the window dear at the last ivy leaf on the wall didn't you wonder why it never moved when the wind blew oh darling it is bare man's masterpiece he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell you have heard the story the last leaf by oh Henry your storyteller was Barbara Klein this the story was adapted by Shelley Gollust and produced by lawan Davis I'm faith Lapidus you
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