The Yellow Hibiscus Chapter 17

I looked around to get my bearings since I'd jumped off the train randomly for fear of being watched. I was at Grand Central Station. The closest was at 5th Avenue and 40th Street East. Though I'd lost track of time, I knew the library would still be open. I set my course and began a brisk walk of a couple of blocks. Walking was therapeutic and much needed in my hyper-harrassed state.

The library was almost empty when I got there. I found only a smattering of people wandering in the main lobby when I hurried up the main steps and pulled open the heavy doors. I quickly proceeded to the encyclopedias in the reference section. I scanned the shelves alphabetically until I got to the H's. I took the volume of the Britannica encyclopedia to one of the empty tables and flipped through the pages until I came to Hibiscus.

I quickly scanned the information and learned the Chinese Hibiscus and the Hardy Hibiscus were the two better-known varieties. The Chinese Hibiscus, also called the Rose of China or the shoe flower, is a widely grown shrub with over 200 species. Sometimes reaching some 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 meters) in height, it grows only in tropical and temperate regions. The flowers of the plant range in color from white, yellow, pink, red, and pastel shades with many blends. It was interesting to note that the Yellow Hibiscus was the Hawaii state flower.

The flower blooms for only one day, but if it is picked when it first opens and placed in a refrigerator, it can stay turgid until evening or late at night. Also, you don't have to place Hibiscus in water after cutting.

I was learning more than I ever intended about the hibiscus flower. More importantly, I now understood why the bouquet Sergeant Willoby had given me was dead by morning.

But what would account for the one in the diamond remaining fresh? Another thought seeped into my head. Where did Willoby get it if the plant only grows in tropical regions and the bloom lasts only one day? How would a florist in New York keep a delicate tropical flower alive after transportation? None of it made sense.

I continued to peruse the book. But I couldn't find any specific information on Yellow Hibiscus. No mention of how blossoms, or anything else, might find themselves embedded into a diamond.

When I flipped over to yellow diamonds and diamonds in general in the D encyclopedia, I found nothing useful. On the chance the information in the books was outdated, I tried searching for diamonds and Hibiscus separately on the internet. Nothing. I couldn't find any connection between the two, but in my pocket, I'd hidden a diamond with a hibiscus mocking me from its center, so someone out there knew about it. I needed to find out who!

Now curious, I continued researching diamonds and Hibiscus, which yielded mountains of information on both. In addition to floral arrangements, the edible hibiscus blossom made excellent teas and exotic drinks and had medicinal value.

I poured over the various diamonds and found the information interesting. My diamond was not the Regent diamond, safely housed in the Louvre in Paris. Nor was it the Kohinoor. Many lives were lost between Kohinno's discovery in Golconda, India, and its transfer to the Crown when Punjab was captured by the British. It is now a part of the Crown Jewels of England.

Since I was already engrossed in my research, I became curious about the Star of Africa. Not much information was said about it. Besides, it was one of the nine largest stones found in a South African mine in 1905. According to the pictures in the encyclopedia, none of those diamonds matched mine. Included in the cluster was the Great Mogul, a 280-carat diamond that hasn't been seen in years.

As I was about to give up, an entry on the 137-carat Florentine diamond caught my attention. It was pale yellow but had no flower embedded within. Its nine-sided facet double rose cut had a similar shape to mine, only bigger. Contrary to its name, the 'world wide web,' said it originated from India. It was reported stolen from Vienna and has never been seen again.

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoyed it.