A man and dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.
The man had a faint memory of dying, but he definitely remembered that the dog trotting beside him had been dead for years. The man wondered absently where the road was leading him and his dog. Oddly, the experience of being dead and seeing the eyes of his long dead dog gazing up at him didn’t seem strange at all.
After a while, the man and dog happened upon a high and white stone wall which ran along one side of the road. The wall looked like fine incandescent marble. The man raised his eyes to scan the wall and ahead, at the top of a long hill, the wall was broken by a tall arch which glowed in the warm sunlight.
The man and dog walked up the hill towards the tall arch and saw, within it, a magnificent gate that glowed like mother-of-pearl. A path leading towards the gate glimmered dull yellow, as only pure gold can. The man and dog walked enquiringly towards the gate and noticed somebody sitting at a desk, just to one side of the gate.
When the man was close enough, he called out, 'Excuse me, where are we?'
'This is Heaven, sir,' the Gate Guardian answered with a smile.
'Heaven? We made it …’ said the grinning man as he rubbed his dog’s ears, ‘…would you happen to have some water? We’re really thirsty.'
'Of course, sir…,’ replied the Gate Guardian warmly, ‘…come on in and I'll have some iced water brought right up.'
'Can my friend…' asked the man, gesturing toward his dog, '…come in and have some water too?'
The Gate Guardian’s eyes clouded a little as he replied: 'I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets.'
The man thought for a moment, pursed his lips and then turned back towards the road. With his dog beside him, he continued on the way he had been going. After long walk and at the top of another long hill, the man came upon a side road – nothing more than a dirt track which led through a farm gate. A gate that crookedly leaned wide open and looked as if it hadn’t been used for years. There was no fence to be seen – only a gate. As the man approached the derelict gate, he saw a man just inside. This man was chewing on a straw and sitting on the grass with his back leaning against a tree while he read a book.
'Excuse me…' called to the man to the book-reader. '…do you have any water?'
'Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in,’ replied the book-reader, gesturing into the farm-yard.
'How about my friend here?' The man waved a hand towards his dog.
'There’s a bowl by the pump,' replied the book-reader
The man and dog walked through the gate and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it. The man filled the water bowl and placed it before his dog. Then he placed his mouth under the pump outlet and drank. When the man and his dog had both slaked their thirst, they walked back towards the book-reader who was still sitting with his back against the tree.
'What do you call this place?' the man asked.
'This is Heaven,' casually answered the book-reader.
'Well, that's confusing…' the traveller replied, '… a guy just back down the road told me that his gate led to Heaven.'
'Oh, you mean the place with the gold path and the pearly gates?’ answered the book-reader. ‘No. That’s the gate to Hell.'
The man furrowed his brow for a moment and asked: 'Doesn’t it annoy you that the guy at the gate to Hell is pretending that it’s the gate to Heaven?'
'Not at all…, replied the book-reader, laying his book on his lap ‘…I’m just happy that he screens out the people who would leave their best friends behind...'http://www.katsdogagility.co.uk/rainbowbridge.htm Homeless man and dog:http://realneo.us/content/homeless-man-cuddling-dog
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