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Heaven
A man and his cat 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 cat 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 cat 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 cat 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.
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 cat.
"There should be a bowl by the pump." They went through the
gate and, sure enough, there was an old fashioned and pump with a bowl
beside it. The traveler filled the bowl and took a long drink himself.
Then he gave some to the cat.
When
they were full, he and the cat walked back toward the man, who was
standing by then, 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 pets behind."
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