The Yellow Hibiscus

Tempest Under 1000 Words

History tells that all the females of the Oolonpo tribe survived under great hardship. The book said they were a dying race. They were almost extinct. They weren’t welcome in Hawaii. So, they were forced to live on a small barren island, thirty miles north of Maui. That island is not recorded on any map.

There are about twenty of them alive today, mostly old women. When all of them are dead, the Yellow Diamond Hibiscus will wither and die with them. If even one member of the Tribe is alive, the diamond will survive. The book had one picture of a group of old women dressed in bright yellow Saris. To my surprise, they looked just like Makelaka and the old woman who helped me at the Library!

Makelaka. I must find her, soon!

Someone had torn out the remaining pages of the book. Where I presumed there would have been more information about the Yellow Diamond. I needed to know more about it. I retrieved the second book. It wasn’t made of paper, but of pieces of leather — bound together. On the cover page, was a drawing of the Yellow Diamond Hibiscus. It was broken in four pieces, and a red liquid was running from the red center of the hibiscus!

A brochure on my bed advertised the Hotel’s Internet café. The Hawaiian Public Library should be online. It was easier than I…