An old man and his dog were walking along a
country road, enjoying the scenery, when it
suddenly occurred to the man that he had died. He
remembered dying, and realized, too, that the dog
had been dead for many years. He wondered
where the road would lead them, and continued onward. 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, white arch that gleamed 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 was pleased that he had finally arrived at
heaven, and the man and his dog walked toward
the gate. As he got closer, he saw someone sitting
at a beautifully carved desk off to one side. When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse
me, but is this heaven?" "Yes, it is, 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 gatekeeper gestured
to his rear, and the huge gate began to open. "I assume my friend can come in..." the man said,
gesturing toward his dog. But the reply was, "I'm sorry, sir, but we don't
accept pets." The man thought about it, then thanked the
gatekeeper, turned back toward the road, and
continued in the direction he had been going. After
another long walk, he reached the top of another
long hill, and he came to a dirt road which led
through a farm gate. There was no fence, and it looked as if the gate had never been closed, as
grass had grown up around it. As he approached
the gate, he saw a man just inside, sitting in the
shade of a tree in a rickety old chair, 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
said, pointing to a place that couldn't be seen from
outside the gate. "Come on in and make yourself at
home." "How about my friend here?" the traveler gestured
to the dog. "He's welcome too, and there's a bowl by the
pump," he said. They walked through the gate and,
sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand
pump with a dipper hanging on it and a bowl next
to it on the ground. The man filled the bowl for his
dog, and then took a long drink himself. When both were satisfied, he and the dog walked
back toward the man, who was sitting under the
tree waiting for them, and asked, "What do you call
this place?" the traveler asked. "This is heaven," was the answer. "Well, that's confusing," the traveler said. "It
certainly doesn't look like heaven, and there's
another man down the road who said that place
was heaven." "Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and
pearly gates?" "Yes, it was beautiful." "Nope. That's hell." "Doesn't it offend you for them to use the name of
heaven like that?" "No. I can see how you might think so, but it
actually saves us a lot of time. They screen out the
people who are willing to leave their best friends
