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Ann Beattie’s advent in the 1970s as the voice of a generation helped create a global short story renaissance. Her explorations of the subtle cruelties and desires of the heart have continually sustained and advanced the story form, and she has been honored with the PEN/Malamud Award and the Rea Award for the Short Story. She is the author of numerous books, including the collections Onlookers (Scribner, 2023), Follies, The State We’re In, and The Accomplished Guest, as well as the novels Chilly Scenes of Winter, Another You, Mrs. Nixon: A Novelist Imagines a Life, and A Wonderful Stroke of Luck. Beattie lives in Maine and Key West.

Photograph by Sigrid Estrada.

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The Body
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When People Fall

A Story

by Ann Beattie
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They say, “Whoops!”

People who are not falling when others are falling rush forward and sometimes put their hands over their mouths.

The person who has fallen says, “I’m fine.”

People fall backward and get a concussion.

There are not many reports of people falling who see their life flashing before their eyes.

There might be some.

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  • This is quintessential Ann Beattie, a story with perfect pitch, line...

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