A Man and His Dog

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 stonewall 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. 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 and 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 golden
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."
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