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 leading
through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no
fence.
As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a
tree and reading a book.
"Excuse me!" he called to the man. "Do you have
any water?"
"Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, 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 water 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.
"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, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who
would leave their best friends behind."
Author
Unknown