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 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 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 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 who was standing by the tree.


'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, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind.'

Groucho fan that is very touching. We lost our beloved German Shepherd last week and that story is how every one of us feels about our pets.

Groucho fan, I have to agree with musician. Thanks for posting it.

Groucho_fan, I love this. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

Groucho, Thank you, Beautifully captured. There is no greater friend on this earth. A bond near equal a mother and child.

That was awesome

Beautiful story. And so true.

I usually don't like stuff like this but that made me tear up.

I know, me too. You should read some of the ones Musician7 has. I literally cry and can't stop the tears from coming down.

G.Marx, that's a sweet story and is also an episode of the twilight zone. I hope you get a chance to watch it sometime, you would like it.

Yup, a story written by Earl Hamner Jr, who also wrote "The Waltons." It is episode 84, entitled "The Hunt."

MY idea of heaven:

Nice!

And now, a condensed version of the actual episode:

Beautiful. Thanks Nova and Ferm.

Really. Thanks. I enjoyed that a whole bunch.

(Btw: has anyone noticed how incredibly Swedish that original picture is. I dunno, I've been into Swedish stuff lately and its Swedishness just popped out at me.)

I did not know that, thanks! Occasionally, The Twilight Zone would do a sweet "feel good" episode. I never saw that one.

You all should see "Pitch to the Angels" (i think that's the name of the episode) with Mr. Bookman.

No truer bond exists than that of man(or woman) and animal. Thank you.