Travels {Insp}

"Travels"

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". 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," 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. I can see how you might think so, but we're
just happy that they screen out the folks who'd
leave their best friends behind."
Received on Sun May 28 01:16:12 2006