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 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. After another long walk, and at the top of another
long hill, he came to a dirt road that led 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 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, and 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," was the answer.
"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."
