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 traveller 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 traveller 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 traveller 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 traveller asked.






'This is Heaven,' he answered.




'Well, that's confusing,' the traveller 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.'






Soooo ..




Sometimes, we wonder why friends keep forwarding jokes to
us without writing a word.




Maybe this will explain.