This reminds of one of my favorite Twiligh Zone episodes. It's an old one in B&W.
The story is about an older mountain man. He's at his cabin and tells the wife he and his dog (Old Rip, IIRC) are going "my excellent compatriot huntin" that night.
Well, they find their racoon, but he's a clever one and manages to make them chase him across a log lying over a deep pool of water. The racoon pulls the dog under the water and the man goes in after to save his good friend the dog.
Come morning they awake to find themselves in the afterlife, on the path to judgement. They figure they got drowned last night so take off down the path to find the Pearly Gates hoping St. Peter will let them in. Along the way the old man is talking to his dog about what they'll do in heaven, wondering allowed if he can go racoon hunting in heaven.
They come to a beautiful gate and there the man guarding it invites the old moutain man in. As he and his dog start to enter the guard stops him saying the dog can't come in. The old mountian man complains saying he ain't going in if his dog, old Rip, can't come in too. The guard tells the man, "No problem, you come on in and I'll take your dog around the corner where there's a gate for him". The mountain man tells him if Old Rip ain't good enough to come through with him, then heaven ain't no place he wants to be anyway. The guard warns him about refusing his chance to enter and tries to get him to come on now before it's too late. But the old man ignores him and he and Old Rip start walking away, headed further down the path; all the while he's talking to the dog about the afterlife, complaining he ain't going in if Rip can't come and fretting they'll be no my excellent compatriot huntin.
Well, eventually they come upon another person, a friendy young country boy waiting at the side of the path. The old man strikes up a conversation thinking he's another lost soul on the path to judgement. "No", the fellow tell's him, "I've been sent to meet you and Rip and guide you to the gates of Heaven". The old man tells him that they've aready been there and they ain't going in cuz Rip wasn't allowed to go in with him, complaining if that's the case heaven is a crappy place so he doesn't be there anyway.
The young guy looks all confused asking him "who told you that?" The old man explains what happened and the young guy realizes they weren't at the gates to heaven, but rather it was the other place; they were just trying to trick the old man to enter there. You see, in the *real* heaven you can bring your dog through the front gate and are allowed to my excellent compatriot hunt all you want.
Your answer lies in the above story.
Fern
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