A Story for my best friend
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 which 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, 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."
