{"product_id":"on-the-other-side-of-the-magpie","title":"On the Other Side of the Magpie","description":"\u003cp\u003eSparrow\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe botanical garden in my neighborhood is free \u003cbr\u003e\nuntil April. A frigid Sunday morning and a bad\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003eNCIS episode later, we find ourselves walking \u003cbr\u003e\nthrough grass peeking through patches of melting\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003esnow, and the bare gnarled branches reach not for light,\u003cbr\u003e\nbut warmth. My mother sits to rest and I canÕt help\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003ebut see the same patches of snow, as if melting through \u003cbr\u003e\nher hair, streaking past the past. And the past is here,\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003eI can see it in her eyes as she looks up to those same gnarled \u003cbr\u003e\nfingers reaching for warmth like her own.\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003eShe has been complaining about the cold as of late. \u003cbr\u003e\nI canÕt remember when she started aching and walking\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eslowly, I canÕt help it. IÕll pull a muscle now.\u003cbr\u003e\nWe walk down the streets trying to buy soy milk and warm\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003eroasted sweet potatoes. I want to see what she sees \u003cbr\u003e\nin those trees that line the park. The bare trees with\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003ea sole bird perched atop. She mentions the bird to me. \u003cbr\u003e\nshe wonders about it, not aloud, but I hear.\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003eThe other birds fly about and flitter \u003cbr\u003e\ntowards the ground in groups, playing, eating, living\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003etheir small bird lives. I envy these birds \u003cbr\u003e\nthat know more about her thoughts than I.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksWholesale","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44292071948449,"sku":"toppaa1999","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0462\/1120\/3233\/files\/2mmm72r-front-shortedge-384.jpg?v=1714541539","url":"https:\/\/bookswholesale.myshopify.com\/products\/on-the-other-side-of-the-magpie","provider":"BooksWholesale","version":"1.0","type":"link"}