The other night, I had a dream .
I was waiting for my turn on Judgment Day. Across the throne room of Heaven sat the Lord God, casting judgment on people as they crossed one by one into the light before him. As he reviewed their lives, pictures of those events materialized in the clouds above like a drive in movie.
The guy ahead of me was busy telling me about all the good stuff he did. He was more than confident that God would be pleased with his accomplishments on Earth and would welcome him into Heaven with open arms.
So his turn came and he stepped out into the light before the Almighty God.
God sat silently listening, nodding as the guy rattled on and on about his charity work, his donations, his awards, etc.
About half way through, God held his hand up as if to say, "Wait just a second."
Then God reached out and snapped his fingers, and a big, shaggy dog came running from the clouds and sat at his feet. He was the most beautiful animal I had ever seen, with hair of gold and a smile that could melt hard candy. His eyes were pure starlight, and his bushy tail swished back and forth in happy waves as God petted the dog and told him what a good boy he was. He was perfect, except for one odd thing. Around his neck, there was a dirty, worn out collar and a piece of mangled, twisted chain.
The guy in line ahead of me froze. Though he was dead, he was whiter than any death paler on record. His bugged out eyes were glued to the dog that sat at God's feet, and the nasty chain that hung from the dog's collar.
God continued to pet the dog, and looked at the guy, "By any chance, do you remember this animal?" God asked him.
The guy began to stammer, "I...uh, I um...well you see God, I."
"Do you know this dog?" God asked, a little louder than before.
"It's Duke." The guy said in a whisper. "It's my dog, Duke."
"Tell me," God said, still petting the beautiful creature, "Do you know how Duke got here?"
There was a small silence before the guy said, "He died."
God reached down and fumbled the bit of mangled chain that hung from the dog's neck.
"Yes, he died." He said, and above him materialized an image of the dog as it had perished on Earth. Duke was more of a skeleton than a dog .He was lying crippled in the dirt.
In the image, the bit of chain that now hung from his neck was a full length of about 8 feet , nailed to a tattered, leafless tree. The chain was wrapped repeatedly around the dead hulk of bark. Duke's neck was bloody, chunked, and gashed where the collar and chain had dug the flesh away. His eyes were swelled to the point that they were mere slits in the dogs head. An empty food bowl lay overturned by the remains of a dog house.
I felt sick and looked away. I heard the guy in line ahead of me let out a cry like a small child.
In the image, a man walked by on the way to his car. The dog made a pitiful sound, and he kicked dirt at him, cursed, got into the car and drove away.
The man in the picture was the same guy who now stood before his maker.
The images disappeared, and so did the guy. In a split second, and a flash of light, he was gone.
I woke up, startled and frightened. My Charlie was lying next to me, my Lucy at my head, the Hines dog and the Pearl cat at my feet. We were all safe, alive and well. I realized that it had all been a dream, a nightmare.
But in my heart, I couldn't help but wonder how many Duke's were out there living it for real.
