Recently Wayne was goofing around with our DVR again and decided to put it to use recording old Twilight Zone shows. Before he leaves for work most mornings, we sit in front of the TV and eat breakfast together. Sometimes we watch the news, but since that’s been too depressing lately we’ve been relying on whatever DVR recordings are in the queue for our morning entertainment. That’s how we came to find ourselves watching one of the Twilight Zone reruns Monday morning.
No Dogs Allowed in Heaven
It was called “The Hunt.” It’s about an old man and his dog who die while they’re out on a coon hunt one night. Except it takes the old man a spell to realize he’s dead.
The moment it came on I remembered it.
“Oh, this is a sad one,” I told Wayne. “I mean, it’s sad in a happy way.”
I think the word I wanted was bittersweet, but it only now came to me. Anyway, Wayne asked, “Why? What happens?”
“The old man tries to get into heaven, but they won’t let him in with his dog. They tell him there’s another heaven down the road for dogs and they’ll be sure he gets there, but the man will have to cross through the gates alone. He tells them, ‘I’m not going to heaven if my dog isn’t allowed,’ and he goes on off to his dog’s heaven.”
Wayne had to leave for work before we could finish watching the whole thing. We stopped it so we could watch it together later.
Mistaken Memory
When Wayne came home that night he wanted to see the rest. I had to get to a volleyball game, so I told him to go ahead and watch without me since I already knew the ending. (Also, the dog had bluetick markings like Murph and the storyline was tugging that heartstring which makes watching animals in shows hard for me.)
“The Hunt” was forgotten about until last night when I came home from volleyball and sat down to eat a late dinner while Wayne worked in front of the TV.
“Oh yeah. I forgot to tell you that you were way off on the ending of that Twilight Zone,” Wayne said.
“I was?”
“Well, not way off, but you didn’t remember it right.”
I had to see for myself just how far off I was.
I wasn’t that far off. I just had forgotten a certain detail.
Ain’t Going to Heaven without My Dog
The first gate the old man and his dog Rip came to along Eternity Road is the one that refused to allow the dog in. The gatekeeper said it was heaven, but the old man couldn’t picture one without his dog coon hunting by his side forever after.
That’s when the gatekeeper informed him there wasn’t any coon hunting in heaven either. Even though the gatekeeper was trying to persuade him that life was great in there anyway, the old man refused to go to any heaven that wasn’t good enough for his dog. Plus, Rip was going crazy straining at his leash and growling at the gatekeeper. The old man wasn’t about to part ways like that. (The gatekeeper had offered to sneak Rip through the fence if only the old man would just pass through the gates.)
“No. I don’t want Rip thinking he’s not welcome. If he can’t walk in with me, we’ll walk away together.”
So they did. Down the road they ran into another fella.
“You old man Robinson?” (I’m not sure Robinson was his name. I only remember the dog’s name.)
“Sure am.”
“And this must be your dog Rip,” the man asked, petting Rip.
“Sure is.”
They got to talking about how the man knew them. Turns out he was an angel sent to bring them to heaven.
The old man’s first question was: “Can my dog come too?”
“Of course. All dogs are allowed in heaven.”
The Devil Can’t Fool a Dog
The angel went on to explain that other gate was not heaven, but hell.
“You see, a man will walk in to hell with both eyes open, but a dog won’t. And he’ll warn man not to go either. That’s why the man pretending to be Saint Peter didn’t want your dog to come in. The devil can’t fool a dog.”
In a way, Rip had sensed something was amiss with that other gatekeeper and saved his man from entering the wrong gate.
Rod Serling’s parting warning was to the effect: “Traveler’s would always be wise to have a dog with them, especially in the Twilight Zone.”
Here, here! Because there’s no telling what pets know that we don’t.
Courtney Mroch writes about animals great and small in Pets and the harmony and strife that encompasses married life in Marriage. For a full listing of her articles click here.
Photo credit: 
Standard restrictions apply for use of this photo.