It could be about a physical object around one's neck having symbolic meaning, perhaps representing a connection to someone or something. Maybe it's a necklace passed down in a family.
It's hard to say for sure. While there could be aspects inspired by the author's life, it's also possible that the story is a fictional creation with only loose ties to autobiography.
Hard to say. It could be that your action or words distracted me for a moment, but it might not have completely broken my concentration. A lot depends on the context and my state of mind at the time.
The reason a giraffe has a long neck is quite simple. It's for reaching leaves and branches that are out of the reach of shorter animals. This adaptation gives them a competitive advantage when it comes to finding food.
Perhaps the 'thing around your neck' is a way to immediately draw the reader's attention. It creates an image in the reader's mind. And the 'short story' part tells us the format. It might be that the author wants to convey a complex idea or emotion in a concise form, using this object around the neck as a vehicle to do so. The object could be a threadbare ribbon that has a long and emotional history for the character.