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The Last Leaf
A1 · English · Free ?
In a New York artists’ neighbourhood, Johnsy becomes seriously ill and begins counting the leaves falling from a vine. She believes she will die when the last one disappears. Her friend Sue tries to counter this despair while seeking help from Behrman, an older painter who has long dreamed of creating a masterpiece. A storm threatens the final leaf, but its apparent persistence changes Johnsy’s outlook. The story connects artistic ambition with an act of care whose full cost is revealed only at the end.
General English edition: simplified and original readings, with word and culture notes. No translations.
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Sue and Johnsy live at the top of a small house in New York. They are young painters. They met in May and liked many of the same things. Now they share a home and a room for their work.
In November, a dangerous illness comes to their part of the city. Its name is pneumonia. It makes people very sick.
Johnsy catches the illness. She lies in bed and looks through the window. Across the little yard, she can see the brick wall of another house.
One morning, the doctor talks to Sue outside the room.
“Your friend is very ill,” he says. “I will do everything I can. But she must want to get well. Is there something she wants to do?”
“She wants to paint the Bay of Naples one day,” Sue says.
The doctor leaves. Sue goes into the workroom and cries. Then she wipes her face. She takes her drawing board and walks into Johnsy's room, making a happy tune.
She needs to finish a picture for a magazine. The money will buy food and things for her sick friend.
Johnsy lies very still, with her face towards the window. Sue begins to draw. Then she hears a quiet voice.
“Twelve,” Johnsy says. A little later, she says, “Eleven.”
She is counting backwards.
Sue goes to the bed.