Tuesday 2 March 2010

A man and his dog . . .

Barry received this from a friend today - I thought you'd like to share it!

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 traveller asked.
'Of course, sir. Come right in and I'll have some iced water brought right up'.
The man gestured and the gate began to open.
'Can my friend', gesturing toward his dog, 'come in too?' the traveller asked.
'I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets.'
The man thought for 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 traveller 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 traveller filled the water 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 standing by the tree.
'What do you call this place?' the traveller asked.
'This is Heaven,' he answered.
'Well, that's confusing,' the traveller 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.'

4 comments:

  1. What a marvelous story ... I'm so glad you decided to share. Thank you.
    Hugs and blessings,

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  2. This is a lovely story. Thanks so much for sharing it and I love the picture you used.

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  3. I really enjoyed this story. It really makes you think.

    ReplyDelete



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