text: I died and when I got to heaven my dog, Bear, was waiting there for me. I could feel a light breeze on my temples and smell salt from a nearby ocean. I was back home, on the beach, just a few yards from the house I grew up in. Though I knew I wasn’t there in reality. Somehow, deep in the center of my being, I could sense that I was dead and it didn’t bear any more analyzing than that. Dead was dead and here I was. Bear lumbered up to me and even though it had been 20 years since we’d seen each other, he greeted me the same way he always did, with a bow and a pounce, reaching for my face with his long tongue. His tail made a familiar swooshing sound that I remembered hearing as a boy when it batted the air with enthusiasm. Dead was dead and here we were. That time on the beach was forever and yesterday. I looked forward to it tomorrow and fondly remembered it in memory. Heaven was truly a magical place. Bear and I settled down in the sand, it was wet to my toes but dry to my rear as I sat down. Heaven apparently liked to edit the little things that reality didn’t get right the first time. I looked around and found children with small iridescent wings helping them glide through the air playing with other dogs. And then there was a man beside me. “He’s been excited for you.” Said the man, taking Bears head into his hands and scratching just below the ears. “He told me everything about your walks here.” The man turned his gaze to me and I could see fondness in his eyes. A kindred pet owner, I assumed. “Thank you, I didn’t know he’d be here.” I said, unable to turn my own eyes away from the man, he was a new form of captivating. “I didn’t know how much I missed him.” “Well, dogs are my favorite, it was no problem for me.” I realized then that I couldn’t define the man beyond him being a man and being kind. Everything else was supplemental and not worth registering. I couldn’t tell you his clothes, the sound of his voice, or even the color of his hair. “The dogs, are they all waiting for owners?” I asked. “Not all of them. Some are strays that met an end somewhere. Turns out life is just life. Sometimes it’s not fair for any creature, dogs included.” He pointed to one a ways off playing with a child. “I do everything I can to make them feel whole again. That one there, Walt is his name, only had one leg his entire life but here, he could have eight legs if he asked! I wouldn’t mind.” “And what about the boy he’s with, is that his owner?” I watched as they chased each other round and round. The boy couldn’t have been more than 6 years old. “Oh no. Like I said, that rascal was a stray, so I had to find him someone to bond with.” “That’s nice of you.” “Dogs are my favorite, they get what they need here.” The man reached out for Bear again. Bear responded by rolling over and exposing his belly, leg cocked up, tail brushing the wet sand back and forth. “You see, dogs were the last thing I came up with and I like to think I perfected the formula at that point.” I realized then that this man wasn’t a man. He was everything. The sand particles, the water, the air, the wind, and even the bond that Bear and I shared. Upon this realization, I suddenly found myself out of words. What do you say to Heaven? We sat for a spell, neither party needing to fill the silence. We just existed next to each other; me, Bear and the everything man. Then a thought occurred to me. If there ever was a thought I wish I could unthink it was that one. “I know what brought Bear here, I know what brought me here,” I lifted a finger and pointed at the child with little wings in a gleeful game of tug-of-war with his own dog using a piece of driftwood. “But may I ask what brought that little boy here?” “Oh that little boy?” The everything man, with a twinkle in his being turned to me. “Walt there needed someone, so I brought the boy here to help him find his way.” “Yes but, what caused the little boy...” I trailed off, I didn’t want to be insensitive. “To die?” The man sensed my thoughts. Of course he did. He chuckled to himself. “My dear friend, I did.” He didn’t wait for me to register any astonishment. “A dog needs a friend. A little cancer here, an accident there, all dogs have a companion that I brought to them. A few children here and there won’t leave the world empty.” I watched the little boy and the dog lay back on the sand together. Exhausted but happy. “All dogs need a companion.” The man said as he patted Bear on the head “After all, dogs are my favorite. They get what they need here, no matter the cost.” Bear nuzzled the man’s hand and we continued and still continue to sit there in Dog Heaven. Where dead was dead and there we all were.