The Real Heaven

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 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, 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.

"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."