The story is always in service to the characters, and is only as long or short, or neat or ragged as it needs to be.

Growing up in the '60s and early '70s, with the space flight and the Apollo program, I always loved planes. I always loved rockets and I always loved space travel.

Short fiction seems more targeted - hand grenades of ideas, if you will. When they work, they hit, they explode, and you never forget them. Long fiction feels more like atmosphere: it's a lot smokier and less defined.

You only live a short time... and you are dead a long time.

Long story short: The end.

I think it's a short story writer's duty, as well as writing well about emotions and characters, to write story.