Mel Lett just reminded me of this ancient, venerable tale. In a flash, it came to me — I think I first heard this story from him in high school. Yeah, that makes it at least fifty years old. Nothing new under the sun, the prophet says. . .

The bad brother died. He was missed by his good brother, since he loved him despite his evil ways. Many years later, the good brother died and went to Heaven. Everything was beautiful and wonderful there, and he was very happy.

One day he asked God where his brother was, as he hadn’t seen him there. God said that he was sorry but his brother had lived a terrible life and had gone to Hell instead of Heaven. The good brother then asked God if there was any way for him to see his brother. So God gave him the power of vision to see into Hell, and there was his brother.

He was sitting on a bench with a keg of beer under one arm and a gorgeous blonde under the other. Confused, the good brother said to God, “I am so happy that you let me into Heaven with you. It is so beautiful here and I love it. But, I don’t understand, If my brother was bad enough to go to Hell, why does he have a keg of beer and a gorgeous blonde with him? It hardly seems like a punishment.”

God said unto him, “Things are not always as they seem, my son. . . The keg has a hole in the bottom, and the blonde doesn’t!!!”