Making a long story short

The grandfather attempts to make a long story short when he is talking to Oskar; however, Oskar doesn't want his grandfather to make the story short because he "wanted to make the story as long as [he] could, because [he] was afraid of its end" (Foer, 297). I think the grandfather feels the same way as he is trying to tell his story, but his words run into each other on pages 281-284. Both have so much to say but are afraid of their story's ending. Maybe Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ends with Oskar flipping backwards in time, and the "falling" man rising, as a way for Oskar to cope with the ending of the story and to hope that they "[could] have been safe" (Foer, 326).