Chapter 1 A New Land Shay looked up at the sign marked Customs This was it the official gateway into Ireland The agent at the desk waved her forward He was a short man with a bushy beard He greeted her with a thick Irish accent that Shay couldn’t understand well Ha longll ya be stain Oirland he asked She looked blankly at the man She had no idea what the man was saying He looked at her with narrowed eyes and slowed way down as though speaking to a toddler How Long Will Ya Be Stain Oirland
Oh she said flushing bright red How long will I be staying in Ireland Ten weeks The interview lasted five more painful minutes At the end the customs man stamped Shay’s passport She felt a slight sense of doom She had secretly been hoping the agent would say No sorry love We can’t have you here in this country Why don’t you go back home and have a nice holiday Instead Shay thanked the man grabbed her suitcase and headed outside to the pick-up area Shay thought of her little sister Erin Erin was probably sitting on the beach right now Erin was too young to travel abroad so she had been sent to California with their aunt Karen Aunt Karen worked as a kayak travel guide She spent her days giving ocean tours and talking about the wildlife Erin was going to help her clean the kayaks and learn all about the animals Erin was going to be able to wear a swimsuit all
day And Erin could drink as much free lemonade as she wanted Unlike her spoiled little sister Shay would be spending her days feeding sheep and cleaning up sheep poop and whatever other gross farm chores her uncle gave her Shay was staying with her dad’s cousin Sean Shay was supposed to call him Uncle Sean even though he wasn’t really her uncle He owned a sheep farm and she had only met him once Shay’s dad had grown up traveling to Ireland every summer to help on his grandparents farm but he stopped when Shay was born Then when she was eight Sean had come to visit from Ireland Her dad still talked about him like a brother
She looked down at the photo of Uncle Sean her dad had given her Brown hair slightly bald wearing glasses Where was he she wondered Shay looked at the crowded street in front of her People were greeting family with hugs and kisses car horns were honking and taxis were driving in and out of the pick-up area Shay brushed away the tears coming to her eyes Forget it she muttered If she was old enough to fly across the ocean by herself she could get to her uncle’s house by herself
