Sirena & The Island Of Mist

Inis Oirr

I live in paradise!

     A beautiful limestone island lost somewhere out in the bitter cold North Atlantic Ocean. I love its sand swept shores and wind-blown moors. Not a single tree provides any shades during those rare cloudless summer sunny days. I've spent hundreds of hours in the sun and only seen a light tan for all my efforts...but that is so rare here.

     "A good day to you master Mir." says Mr. O'Conner as he tends to his garden with his bare hands, taking a moment to look at me with an exhausted smile as his eyes glance down at my legs. I feel self-conscious as I force an uneasy smile and wave goodbye.

     "A good day to you to Mr. O'Conner."

     My legs start moving as I don't like it when people stare at me as if I were a victim of a terrible accident that I have no memory of. It bothers me deeply. I turn away as I focus on the road as I am going home from my morning delivery.

     This is my home...Inis Oirthir...Inis Oirr...Inisheer!

     Only 100 people call this place home...

     We are a close nit people. We look out for one another and know one another by first name basis. The people are friendly, and many I have known for my whole life.

     Inisheer is our home away from the mainland of Ireland. Yet...looking from the shores of our eastern island, I look to the mainland 'It's getting further and further away every year.'

     Mom says that when I was born; something terrible happened. The rivers flooded, the springs erupted and the oceans and seas rose from their seabed's. Every year, the ocean encroaches closer and closer to my home, swallowing land and everything upon it.

     Our island is quite primitive, compared to the rest of the advanced cybernetic world.

     Our roads remain unpaved and muddy in the winter months. The electricity is spotty and the most advance technology on this island is what is wrapped around my legs. Our mode of transportation is our legs, bikes and the occasional tractor. The silence here can be deafening to those who come from the cities of lights.

     I quicken my pace as I can feel the rain on the wind 'A storm is blowing in.'

     Climbing to the top of the ridge, sits my home. A modern home with a blend of technology and stonework.

     My mom, Liban, decorates the place with nautical art, ocean gifts and mermaids. It is no wonder that my best friend Finn Hoister calls my place 'A Cyborg Mermaid's Garden' just because we grow the vegetables for the fancy inn's down down by the waterfront.

     Over the years, the name sort of stuck as my mother continued to collect and my dad, Eochaid continued to work out in the garage. Fixing small machines and a few of the villagers' cybernetic parts. The damp weather out here can really take an impact on the metal and joints!

     Dad usually bans me from going into his lab...it is a place I am not wanted...and I am okay with that. The only time I go inside is when I need my tune-ups.

     I spend much of my time with my mother, whom keeps me hopping with deliveries.

     It is life here on the island.

     Education is limited...most children only have a 2nd grade education as they usually tend to their family's farms which feed the people of Inisheer and as payment, we provide them with services that they need to upkeep their farms.

     I was however the exception...my family prized knowledge and I spend each evening doing homework on the topics of arithmetic, English, science and my mom would teach me about mythology...especially about Atlantis and mermaids.