on short stories

i've started to like short stories back in law school for its brevity. (i was always pressed for time then). what was regrettable though was i couldn't get to relish the "message/lesson" underneath the stories because most times, i just read them for escape.

these days, i have taken to reading short stories again. i find them engaging precisely because they are brief. but i have realized that their brevity poses a difficulty. i can't sometimes help but feel that there's something amiss. (and sometimes, i just don't get the story, hehe). i'm working on understanding such stories better, in that way, i don't feel like shortchanged.