The Vet Bill
A woman brought a very limp parrot into a
veterinary surgeon. As she lay her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his
stethoscope and listened to the bird's chest. After a moment or two, the vet
shook his head sadly and said, "I'm so sorry, Polly has passed away." The
distressed owner wailed, "Are you sure? I mean, you haven't done any testing on
him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something." The vet rolled his
eyes, shrugged, turned and left the room, returning a few moments later with a
beautiful black Labrador. As the bird's owner looked on in amazement, the dog
stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed
the dead parrot from top to bottom. He then looked at
the vet with sad eyes and shook his head. The vet took the dog out, but returned
a few moments later with a cat. The cat jumped up and also sniffed delicately at
the bird.
The cat sat back, shook its head, meowed and ran out of the room. The vet looked
at the woman and said, "I'm sorry, but like I said, your parrot is most
definitely 100% certifiably dead." He then turned to his computer terminal, hit
a few keys and produced a bill which he handed to the woman. The parrot's
owner, still in shock, took the bill. "$150! she cried, $150 just to tell me my
bird is dead!!" The vet shrugged. "If you'd taken my word for it the
bill would only have been $20, but what with the Lab report and the Cat
scan......"