Kennedy, A. L. "Failing to Fall".

Analysis

The Title

- fall = an elevated condition of being oneself and enjoying something very special

- failing to fall = the absence of the elevated condition caused in the protagonist by the unwellcome intrusion by a talkative stranger at the taxi stand

Characters

- gender non-specific speaker (a woman?)

- gender non-specific phone caller (her male lover?)

- gender non-specific stranger (a man?)

Note

- for the sake of convenience, the characters in the following Summary are gender labeled as suggested above

Summary

The speaker seems to be trapped in the tedium of her lonely life. The only occassion of joy is the "fall", i.e. the act of answering a phone call, taking a taxi and visiting the caller (a lover?). A stranger seems to share the condition of "fal" with her, makes her realise her inability to induce the feeling of fall by her own power. She attempts to switch the roles, to become the calling one instead of the called one, but the called person refuses her. The stranger becomes her caller, makes her to a varity of places where he never appears. He drops the acquaintance when realising she does not understand (her failure in being happy and her potential to change it?). She writes down her experience, hoping to gain the understanding.