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."
Product Search
