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, the wall 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,'
said the man.
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 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 streets
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.'
You're always welcome at my water bowl!
God Bless~
