One is a lonely number. It’s static and goes nowhere on its own. To move, it takes two. That’s why we need interrelations because, without them, we cannot evolve.

Sue and Johnsy were two young artists living in the art colony not far from Washington Square. They’d moved in in May but by November, Johnsy had pneumonia and risked dying. As Johnsy had already convinced herself that she was going to die, the doctor said her only chance of survival was to find the will to live.

Looking out of her bedroom window, Johnsy could see an ivy vine growing on a brick wall across the way. Initially, the vine was full of leaves but, as it was fall, they started dropping with increasing rapidness until there was only one leaf left on the wine. Johnsy was convinced that once that leaf dropped, she would die.

Behrman was a fierce little old man who lived in the apartment downstairs from the two young women. He was an artist who’d never managed to create a masterpiece and, without enthusiasm, modelled for Sue to earn needed money. After 40 years as an artist, all he had to show for it was a blank canvas on his easel that was still waiting to be painted.

Sue told Behrman about Johnsy’s conviction that she would die once that last leaf fell from the vine. But the elderly artist just grunted.

That afternoon, Johnsy wanted to keep the window curtains open so she could watch the last leaf fall. Fortunately, Sue convinced her to go to eat then sleep instead.

When Johnsy woke up the next morning, she saw that the leaf was still hanging on. So she decided to try hanging on, too, and thought about how lovely it would be to paint the Bay of Naples.

The doctor was amazed at Johnsy’s quick recovery of will and health. Unfortunately, now it was Behrman who was dying. The janitor had found him helpless and in pain, his body wet and icy cold. It seems Behrman had spent the night out in the cold painting an ivy leaf on the wall so Johnsy would not know that the last leaf had already fallen.

Behrman is portrayed as a failure who wasted his time drinking gin instead of painting. But was Behrman really a failure? He may not have been a well-known artist but his painting of the leaf did something most paintings don’t do—it gave someone the will to live and in doing so saved their life. And is there anything more successful than that?

So why not give someone a leaf?

The story is that of O. Henry’s “The Last Leaf” and you can read it online for free HERE.