A man and his dog were walking along a road.
The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred
to him that he was dead. He remembered dying, and
that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years.
He wondered where the road was leading them.
After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall
along one side of the road. It looked like fine
marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by
a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight. When he was
standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the
arch that looked like Mother of Pearl, and the
street that led to the gate looked like pure gold.
He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got
closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side. When he
was close enough, he called out,
"Excuse me, where are we?"
"This is Heaven, sir," the man answered.
"Wow! Would you happen to have some water?"
the man asked.
"Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some
ice water brought right up." The man gestured, and
the gate began to open.
"Can my friend," gesturing toward his dog,
"come in, too?" the traveler asked.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets."
The man thought a moment and then turned back toward
the road and continued the way he had been going
with his dog.
After another long walk, and at the top of another
long hill, he came to a dirt road which led through
a farm gate that looked as if it had never been
closed.
As he approached the
gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree
and reading a book.
"Excuse me!" he called to the reader. "Do you have
any water?"
"Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there". The man
pointed to a place that couldn't be seen from
outside the gate. "Come on in."
"How about my friend here?" the traveler gestured to
the dog.
"There should be a bowl by the pump." They went
through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old
fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.
The traveler filled the bowl and took a long drink
himself, then he gave some to the dog. When they
were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man
who was standing by the tree waiting for them. "What
do you call this place?" the traveler asked.
"This is Heaven," he answered.
"Well, that's confusing," the traveler said. "The
man down the road said that was Heaven, too."
"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and
pearly gates? Nope. That's Hell."
"Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name
like that?"
"No. I can see how you might think so, but we're
just happy that they screen out the folks who'll
leave their best friends behind."
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