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The second story is John Edgar Wideman’s “Witness”. It is about a person who witnesses
a shooting from his apartment balcony. This shooting is not his first experience seeing a dead
body because he recognizes it immediately. The next day, he sees a group of people he assumes
is the family of the boy and watches them grieve, wondering if his mind aided them to find the
spot where the young man had been lying. This story exhibits Nelles’ hallmark of the surprising
ending: the last line reveals that the person is in a wheelchair. Although it does not change the
meaning of the story, it is an unexpected moment for the reader. The audience does not know
why the narrator is in the wheelchair; the narrator does not say. This is the reader’s opportunity
to participate in the story and reread for any clues that might help illuminate the way. The man
could have been in a similar situation himself, only escaping paralyzed instead of inside a body
bag. The reader will never officially know because it is the reader’s job to find out the facts and
make up whatever is missing.

The third and final example of a microfiction story is A.M. Homes’ story, “With One
Wheel Gone Wrong.” The main character is a woman standing in line at a grocery store. As she
waits in line, she pulls out a magazine with a house on the front and notices an offer to win the
house. Flipping through the pages, she is struck by the house’s loveliness and perfection. When
she emerges from her reverie, she decides to purchase every copy of the magazine the store is
selling. The story itself is not long, just as the woman’s experience is not long. The entire
episode lasts a minute or two and then ends with her decision to win that perfect house. Again,
the brevity of the story and the brevity of the situation are two of Nelles’ hallmarks. This allows
the reader to enter the situation with the woman. Instead of being invited to add detail to a
situation the reader is only observing, Homes’ story allows the reader to experience the situation
beside the woman as she walks in this dream world where she has the perfect house and the

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