To an Atheist Dying Young

by Rod Drake

Wilfred (he was neither Will or Fred; everyone called him Harry) was close to his mother, but she died when he was just 14, an experience that turned him into a lifelong atheist. After attending a good university as a lackluster, but gifted, student, he became a poet, writing plain, terse and bitter verse. Then he was lauded as a literary genius, a cutting voice of stark, lonely reality, the tragic voice of his generation. Harry tried to drink himself to death, but it took too long, so instead he hanged himself. Imagine his surprise when he came face-to-face with God. And his mother.

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Rod Drake thinks about a lot of different things, and some of those thoughts get turned into stories.