The Last Leaf - Simplified Version

                                    THE LAST LEAF - SIMPLIFIED VERSION

JOANNA and SUE, were both painters and were very good friends. They lived in a three storeyed brick house near NEWYORK. It so happened that a severe kind of fever spread in the coloney where the two friends lived. One day, when JOANNA tried to get out of her bed, she felt she could not even move. She was running high temp[erature. SUE rang up the doctor and told him about her friend's miserable condition.

The doctor came, examined her and talked to her. Then taking SUE out of the room, he told her that JOANNA had pneumonia. "The poor girl has only one chance of getting well, if she wishes to live. But I feel she has made up her mind not to get well? Has she anything on her mind?"

"Well, I do not know but I think she has one dream to paint the Bay of Naples? replied SUE."

"Paint the Bay of Naples/ That she can do only if she gets well. Tell me why is she so hopeless. A lot of people get pneumonia and survive."

"I don't know, doctor, what makes her so sad and hopeless, I really don't know." said SUE.

"Well," said the doctor, "Ofcourse, I will do everything I can".

Cheer her up, make her wish to get well soon and her chances of recovery will greatly improve."

After the departure of the doctor, SUE walked into JOANNA'S room whistling a cheerful tune.

JOANNA was lying still in her bed. She was looking out of the window, counting; twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven.

She followed the direction of her eyes. Outside the window there was nothing except the wall of a brick house some 20 feet away. An IVY VINE, almost bare, climbed half way up the brick wall.

"What is it my dear JOANNA? What are you counting?" asked SUE in a tender voice.

Three days ago there were about a hundred of leaves. I had a severe headache trying to count them. Well now I can count them easily. See there goes another leaving only five.

"Five what?" asked SUE.

"Five leaves on the IVY VINE'', whispered JOANNA. "I think when the last one falls I shall die".

"What nonsense my dear friend," said SUE, "try to cheer up, no one dies when leaves fall in autumn. Now here is some broth I have brought for you."

"Thank you SUE'', said JOANNA, her eyes still fixed on the vine. "No, I don't want any broth. Look there goes another. I think the remaining four will fall before the night and then I will go too".

"No, you wouldn't go," assured SUE "Go to sleep and you will be all right by the morning. I am going to Behrman. I'll be back in a minute''.

Behrman lived on the ground floor. He was an old man past sixty. He, too, was an artist, but nobody bought his paintings. He had not painted anything for the last many years, but he hoped to paint his master-piece one day. He was a fierce little old man, ready to pick up a quarrel with anyone who talked of affection and regard for others.

"She is weak and ill and her fever makes her imagine silly things, "said SUE to BEHRMAN''.

"This dark damp house is no place for a little sick child to live", said Behrman. "Trust me some day I'll paint my master-piece and have enough money. And I'll surely get you a real decent house".

That right a terrible rain and snow storm hit the village. When SUE awoke in the morning, she found JOANNA staring at the closed window, "Open it", she cried, "I want to see the leaves".

SUE opened the window. What she actually saw amazed her. There against the brick wall still stood one IVY LEAF.

"It is the last one. I thought it would fall during the nigh", whispered JOANNA. "Well, I think it will go today and I shall die".

"now don't be silly", said SUE, "you are not going to die whether that leaf falls or stays".

The day passed slowly while JOANNA stared at the last leaf fearing it would fall any moment. But it did not fall that day. The night brought more rain. The icy wind lashed against the brick house and raged through the narrow twisting streets.

Early in the morning. SUE opened the window. The IVY LEAF was still there.

"Why is still there?'' JOANNA paused and thought for sometime. "Yes, I know", she exclaimed, "It is there to tell me how wicked I have been all these days, thinking of death and wanting to die. Now, please give me some broth", she said to SUE.

The doctor came in the afternoon. After examining JOANNA, he said, "well, she is getting better. I must leave now, another patient needs me downstairs, a fellow named Behrman, an artist, I believe. He is old and weak. He caught pneumonia the night before last".

In the afternoon, two or three days later, SUE came to JOANNA, who lay in her bed knitting a scarf. I have something to tell you", SUE said softly. "Mr. Behrman died of pneumonia in the hospital today. Several days ago, the watchman found him in his room. His shoes and clothes were all wet and he was running high fever. Then they found a ladder against the brick wall with the IVY VINE, and a lighted lantern and brushes and paints. Didn't you wonder why that last leaf never moved or fluttered in the wind? It was Behrman's master-piece. He painted it the night the last leaf fell".

here...Alas Mrose...the original contents by www.sensualityface.com or www.fairyage.com / described & simplified with the help of O'HENRY