 |
PatchWork |
|
PatchWork |
Last Updated 09/06/05
Email: joy@our-town.com
An old man and his dog were walking along a country road, enjoying the scenery, when it
suddenly occurred to the man that he had died. He
remembered dying, and realized, too that the dog had been dead for several years. Wondering where the road would lead them, he
continued his walk.
After awhile, they came to a high stone wall along one side of the road. It looked
like fine onyx. At the top of a long hill, the wall was broken by a tall, white arch that
gleamed in the sunlight and in the arch was a magnificent gate.
The man thought that surely he had arrived
at heaven and he and his dog walked toward the gate.
As he got closer, he saw someone sitting at a beautifully carved desk off to one
side. When he was close enough he called out,
“Is this heaven’s gate?” In
answer to the question, the man rose, his long red velvet robe brushing the soft dust from
the brick street, and swung wide the heavy door.
The old man was really tired and very thirsty so he hesitated and asked for a drink of water. “Just come on in,” the gatekeeper
smiled, “and I’ll have some ice water brought right to you.”
The old dog looked up at his master’s face, tail wagging. “Oh and may I have a bowl of water for my
friend here. He and I have come a long way
together.” The traveler said.
“Oh no,” was the quick reply. “We
don’t accept pets up here. You’ll
have to leave him outside.”
The old man was really tired of walking and very thirsty but he could not think of
leaving his pet behind. Head down, he turned
sorrowfully back toward the road. After
awhile he came to a narrow dirt road, which led him through an old wooden gate, and into a
farmyard. The fence was mostly on the ground
and the gate looked like it had never been closed as grass and wild flowers grew all
around it. Just inside the open gate, sat an
elderly gentleman in overalls and straw hat. He
was resting in a little swing that hung from the giant limb of a live oak tree while he
read from a big thick book.
The traveler and his dog walked through the gate and approached the man in the
swing. “Could I trouble you for a drink
of water,” he asked.
“You bet. There’s a pump
over by that grapevine. Come on in and help
yourself.”
“How about my friend here?” the traveler motioned to the dog.
“Sure, he’s welcome too. There’s
a bowl by the pump if he’s thirsty,” the reader said.
The tired old man and his aged dog walked through the gate and sure enough there
was an old-fashioned hand pump fastened to a concrete slab by the vine lush with purple
grapes. A long handled tin dipper hung on a
piece of baling wire beside it. On the
ground, next to the pump, was a big blue granite bowl.
The traveler filled the bowl for his
dog and then took a long drink of the cool water. He
had never tasted anything so good he thought and suddenly all his aches and pains
vanished. He felt like a young man.
In gratitude he reached down to pet the
graying muzzle of his dog and to his amazement the dog’s hair was a rich brown where
it had been almost solid white only moments before.
Filled with wonder, the man who was no longer old, strode back to the tree where
his host sat reading. “What place is
this?” He asked.
“Why, this is heaven,” came the answer.
Confused, the traveler scratched his head, “I never thought heaven looked like
this. I came to another place back down the
road that I thought was surely heaven. The
gatekeeper invited me inside but he wouldn’t let my dog come in, so I just kept
walking.”
“Oh, you mean that place with the black wall and the big wide gate? Well that’s the front door to hell. Actually that feller saves us a lot of time by
pretending to be some other place. He screens out all the people who are willing to leave
their best friends behind.”
4/13/01