The Dead Boy at Your Window, by Bruce Holland Rogers

The Dead Boy at Your Window is, according to its author, an exercise in writing a fairy tale.  That exercise turned out pretty well, garnering a Nebula nomination for best short story in 1999.  It's a very brief tale, and like most fairy tales it does not summarize well without paraphrasing its point.  And you don't want to do that with a fairy tale, because a good one does that much better in the original words.  The story is about life, and death, and the connections between--which covers a pretty large chunk of all speculative fiction anyway.  What I can say is I liked reading it, and as an exercise it worked.  I give it 3 stars, have fun.