An old man and his dog were walking along a road when it occurred to the man that he had died. He remembered dying.
After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall. It looked like fine marble. He saw a magnificent gate and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He saw someone sitting at a beautifully caved desk off to one side.
He called out, “Excuse me, but is this heaven?”
“Yes, it is, sir.”
“Wow! Would you happen to have some water?”
“Of course, sir. Come right in.”
“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 main turned back toward the road. After another long walk, he reached the top of another 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. He saw a man just inside.
“Excuse me!” he called, “Do you have any water?”
“Yeah, sure, there’s a pump over there,” the man said “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.
The man filled the bowl for his dog, and then took a long drink himself.
“What do you call this place?” the traveler asked.
“This is heaven.”
“Well, that’s confusing,” the traveler said. “There’s another man who said that place was heaven.”
“Nope. That’s hell.”
“Doesn’t it offend you for them to use the name of heaven like that?”
“No. It actually saves us a lot of time. They screen out the people who are willing to leave their best friends behind.”
