Amanda Bird is a writer and editor. She lives just outside Eugene, Oregon, with her husband, teen daughter, a dozen chickens, and a small flock of pigeons. She reviews a wide range of books at https://birdsbooks.peregrines.net/. "Perspective" is in Short Circuit #09, Short Édition's quarterly review.

Amongst my mother-in-law's hoarded treasures, a rusted Normal Rockwell tin weighted down with--what? pebbles bits of glass green blue but mostly plain and clear seashells barnacle-crusted clam shells the sorts of things of which mothers say,"What are you going to do with those when you get them home? I'm not going to carry them for you." Now I spend my priceless time placing each into a jar considering whence it came. The neighbors' waterfront? Rialto Beach? Point no Point? The Oregon Coast? Rain patters on the attic window. One day my daughter will say, "Your great-grandfather's very own

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