Chapter eleven: Sickness
    Joshu, Basil, and Kohana were walking through the strawberry fields when a huge flock of crow flew over them. They were ducking to get out of the way. When the birds had flown out of the way, Basil asked: “What was that all about?” Then she looked and saw her father’s face pale. “Daddy what’s wrong?” Basil asked. “Those were crows.” said he. Basil was confused. “They are a sign of death.” Joshu continued. His daughter’s eyes grew big with fright. Joshu saw that he had scared her. “Don’t worry. They’re probably not warning us.” he said. Basil relaxed.
    But the crows were warning them. Joshu’s time would be up. The true sign of death came when he and the girls were having lunch in the garden of the manor. “Girls, I left something in the car. I’ll be right back.” Joshu had said. “Okay.” said the girls. Then he got up and left. Basil and Kohana noticed that he hadn’t eaten a single bite. They just assumed he wasn’t hungry.
A few minutes had gone by and Joshu hadn’t returned. The girls grew worried. “Let’s go check on daddy.” Basil said nervously. Kohana nodded. Then they leapt from the table and ran down the dirt road.
    They found Joshu passed out in the moss. Terror shot through Basil. She raced to her father. The princess stood still in horror. Joshu slowly opened his eyes. Basil was filled with horror and relief. Her father was burning up. She turned to Kohana. “Go get my nanny!” Basil yelled. Kohana nodded and ran.
    The doctor came to the manor in the night to check on Joshu. Joshu was diagnosed with feverish pneumonia. Basil vowed to take care of him until he got better. But very soon, summer would be cut short.

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