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Sometimes we wonder why friends keep forwarding 42 viral jokes to us without writing a word. Maybe this will explain:
A man and his dog were walking along the road. The man was enjoying the lovely scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.
He remembered dying, and that the brown dog walking beside him had been dead for several 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, the wall 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.
When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse me, where are we?"
"This is Heaven, sir," the man answered.
"Great! 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, yet there was no fence.
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The tired wayfarer kept going. As he approached the gate, he acknowledged a man inside, leaning against a shade tree reading a book.
"Excuse me," he called to the lackadaisical man. "Do you have any water?"
"Yeah, sure, there's a well right there," he confirmed, summoning to the man, "Come on in!"
"How about my friend here?" The traveler gestured, looking in the direction of the dog wagging its tail.
"There should be a bowl by the well."
The traveler and the dog went through the open iron gate. Sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a flowered bowl beside it. He filled the water bowl, took one long drink himself, then shared some more with the dog.
When they both had their fill of water, the man and wagging dog walked back down toward the man who was standing by a dogwood tree, again reading.
"What do you call this place?" the traveler asked.
"This is Heaven," the man answered.
"Well, that's confusing," the traveler said. "The man down the winding road claimed that was Heaven, too."
"Oh, the big palace with the glittering 24-carat gold street and awesome pearl-decorated gates?" He belly-laughed, roaring, "Wrong!! That's hell!"
"Doesn't it make you mad for them to hijack your name like that?" the wandering man asked.
"No, we're just happy that they screen out folks who would leave their best friends behind," he answered.
So, next time you are forwarded an email, take stock, and acknowledge the friend or associate somewhere at the other end of the computer who wanted to send along a smile -- then anagram the words!
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