The wind was howling away outside the window, causing the motorcycle canvas covers to flag madly.
There is going to be heavy rain soon, I thought.
Suddenly there was a blinding flash of lightning, followed by loud rumbling of thunder and the rain came pouring down.
Looking at the huge raindrops splashing onto the ground reminded me of a story I read long ago...
A young girl was admitted to hospital for no apparent reason. She seemed to be wasting away and no amount of treatments could bring a change for the better in her condition. She just lay there in her room, listless, ignoring the people who came and visited her.
The girl would sometime go to the ward common room but she did not talk to any of the other patients there. She just kept to herself.
One day, an old man was admitted to the hospital for a bad cough that did not go away.
For some season, there was an affinity between the girl and the old man and they hit it off right from the start. The girl would sit with the old man and tell him what was on her mind. The old man never told anyone what they talked about.
One day, while looking out of the window, the girl pointed to a plant climbing up the opposite wall. “You see the plant there?” she asked the old man softly. The old man looked to where she was pointing and nodded his head solemnly.
“When the last leaf is gone from the plant,” she told the old man conversationally, “I would no longer be here.”
It was then late autumn and many of the leaves on the plant had changed color. There were not many leaves left on the plant. Soon after, as each leaf fell, the girl grew weaker and weaker, until there were only a handful of leaves left on the plant.
The girl had grown so weak that she was confined to her room most of the time. However, she still insisted on being wheeled to the common room every evening so that she can look out of the window to see how many leaves were left. The old man was there every time she was wheeled into the room. He did not know what he could do to help her. He could only shake his head sadly when he saw her fragile state.
One day, when the two of them were left alone in the common room, the sky suddenly turned dark and the wind picked up. Looking at the leaves still clinging to the plant, the girl whispered weakly to her companion, “The leaves would all be gone tomorrow.”
That night, there was a heavy thunderstorm and the wind was howling and tearing through trees like a wild beast.
Early the next morning, the girl asked to be wheeled into the common room. To her surprise, she saw a leaf still clinging onto the plant.
“Well,” she thought sadly, “It would probably be gone tomorrow.” She did not see her old friend that day.
Determined to see whether the leaf was still on the plant, she again asked to be wheeled to the common room the next morning. The leaf was still on the plant.
Seeing the leaf's determination to cling on to its life despite all odds seemed to give the girl a reason to live. She got better as the days passed. Soon she became well enough to be discharged. She did not see her old friend all these while.
A month after she was discharged, the girl returned to the hospital hoping to see her old friend again.
“Oh, that old gentleman who always sit with you in the common room?” The nurse at the ward reception asked. The girl nodded her head. “I'm sorry, my dear,” the nurse said sympathetically, “he passed away about three weeks ago.”
“No!” the girl cried, covering her mouth. Her friend was recovering when she last saw him. How could he have died?
“I'm sorry,” the nurse said, seeing how distressed she was. Coming out from behind the reception counter, the nurse led the girl to a seat near the window. Patting the girl's shoulder awkwardly, the nurse continued, “It is rather sad. We all thought he was recovering from his cough and he was looking forward to returning to his paintings. However, one morning, I think you were still with us then, after a heavy storm the previous night, he was found drenched in his room. He refused to tell anyone how he got so wet or where he went the previous night.” The nurse shook her head sadly.
“His cough got worse,” the nurse continued, “and he caught pneumonia a few days later. He never recovered from that.”
The girl stared at the nurse dazedly. She realized what had happened. She felt guilty. She thanked the nurse and walked out of the hospital, vowing not to waste her life and to cherish the gift she was given.
