This is my recollection of a story told to me, or read somewhere a long time ago. I liked the message and pass it on.

A man and his dog were walking along a road enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead. He didn’t remember dying, but that dog walking beside him had been dead for years. Perplexed, he wondered where the road was leading them. After a while, they came to a high stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like marble and it glowed in the sunlight.

When he was standing there he saw a magnificent gate that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the road beyond looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer he saw a man at a desk inside. He called out, &uot;Excuse me, where are we?&uot;

&uot;This is Heaven,&uot; the man answered.

&uot;Wow! Would you happen to have some water?&uot; the man asked.

&uot;Of course, sir. Come right in, and I’ll have some ice water brought right up.&uot;

The man gestured, and the gate opened.

&uot;Can my friend,&uot; pointing at his dog, &uot;come in, too?&uot; the traveler asked.

&uot;I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t accept pets.&uot;

The man thought a moment and then went back to the road and kept walking. After another mile or so, at the top of long steep hill he came to a gate that looked as if it had never been closed … a gate, but no fence.

As he neared the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree.

&uot;Excuse me!&uot; he called to the man. &uot;Do you have any water?&uot;

&uot;Yeah, sure, there’s a pump over there, come on in.&uot;

&uot;How about my friend here?&uot; the traveler gestured to the dog. &uot;Sure, c’mon in; there’s a bowl by the pump.&uot;

So he filled the bowl for the dog.

&uot;What do you call this place,&uot; he asked.

&uot;This is heaven,&uot; the man answered.

&uot;But the guy down the road had said his place was heaven.&uot;

&uot;No, the place you passed down the road with the pearly gate is hell, the man said.

&uot;Well aren’t you upset that he claims his place is heaven?&uot;

&uot;Well, no; in fact, we’re very pleased. He screens out those who would leave their best friends behind.&uot;

Does this remind you of some tough decisions made down in New Orleans when Katrina hit?

Will we ever know the cost?

On an entirely different matter…it was announced by our city spokesperson that great minds met in court to settle the quite complicated issue of compensation to the city for the extra millions spent to construct a proper seawall behind the Hilton Hotel. Some pretty big numbers were thrown around and city officials seemed pleased by the fact that they won the case, not at all sure they would.

But one number seems to be left out of the equation. I did not read anywhere where the city spokesperson mentioned how much was spent on legal costs that are never trivial.

I can understand why it was not mentioned, but I do wonder what the net recovery was.

Will we ever know?

robert.pocklington@suffolknewsherald.com