"The Kite of Kilauea"

The Kite of Kilauea

by Carl L. Biemiller

This tale is now an ebook for Kindle

Whisked away from Haddonfield, NJ, by his Uncle George, Terry finds himself on the island of Oahu in Hawaii where his uncle is sure the change in climate and scenery will help Terry recover from his rheumatic fever. A sickness that also causes vivid, life-like dreams for Terry. The twelve year old Terry meets the Pacheko children who teach Terry much about Hawaii's history and lore and together they learn the art of kite flying from legendary Will Yolen. An art that will one day save their lives.

"The Kite of Kilauea" is a tale filled with Hawaiian adventures, modern and ancient. The Pachekos and Terry share their mischiefs and joy and along the way encounter Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanos, at Kilauea.

Eric's notes: I found a letter from an editor or book reviewer with this manuscript. It was dated July 15, 1967. Apparently, Carl L. Biemiller wrote an earlier version of this story titled The Spear and the Rainbow . Will Yolen, the master kiter, was the added addition and some Hawaiian legends were deleted from the orginal version. Since I had both versions, I merged the best of both into one book.

Dad made many trips to Hawaii when he was with Holiday Magazine. He was on the first dawn to dusk flight from San Francisco to Hawaii. I'm guessing that was United Airlines. He came back to Hawaii to visit me when I was in the Navy, stationed at Pearl Harbor. Ironically, my submarine based out of Pearl, but berthed in Apra Harbor, Guam was the
USS Kamehameha, SSBN-642. I was a member of the Gold Crew from 1968 to 1970.

King Kamehameha consolidated the Hawaiian Islands. A tale of his fight to capture the island of Ohau is related in the book as one of Terry's dreams where Terry becomes the island boy, Lono.

Preface: All the characters in this book are pretty' real', except Will Yolen who was an actual person. He authored a major book about kites. It was The Complete Book of Kites and Kiteflying, Simon & Schuster, 1976.

Mr. Yolen died in 1985 at the age of 77.

If you have any comments about this manuscript, please contact me at: eric@biemiller.com

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