FRIEND

A man died and reached a strange but pleasant place.
There he met his pet dog who had died many years
back.
They were very happy to see each other. The dog was overjoyed and jumped
around and licked
the
man to express his emotions. The man too, responded
with love and tenderness. Together they began their
onward journey. The man 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 at
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 towards 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 on the way he had been going.

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, 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, who was
standing by a 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
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'll leave
their best friends behind."