Comma Gets a Cure

cc-01 Well, here's a story for you: Sarah Perry was a veterinary nurse
cc-02 who had been working daily at an old zoo in a deserted district of the territory,
cc-03 so she was very happy to start a new job at a superb private practice
cc-04 in north square near the Duke Street Tower.
cc-05 That area was much nearer for her and more to her liking.
cc-06 Even so, on her first morning, she felt stressed.
cc-07 She ate a bowl of porridge, checked herself in the mirror
cc-08 and washed her face in a hurry. Then she put on a plain yellow dress 
cc-09 and a fleece jacket, picked up her kit and headed for work.
cc-10 When she got there, there was a woman with a goose waiting for her.
cc-11 The woman gave Sarah an official letter from the vet.
cc-12 The letter implied that the animal could be suffering from a rare form
cc-13 of foot and mouth disease, which was surprising,
cc-14  because normally you would only expect to see it in a dog or a goat.
cc-15 Sarah was sentimental, so this made her feel sorry for the beautiful bird.
cc-16 Before long, that itchy goose began to strut around the office like a lunatic,
cc-17 which made an unsanitary mess.
cc-18 The goose's owner, Mary Harrison, kept calling, "Comma, Comma,"
cc-19 which Sarah thought was an odd choice for a name.
cc-20 Comma was strong and huge, so it would take some force to trap her,
cc-21 but Sarah had a different idea.
cc-22 First she tried gently stroking the goose's lower back with her palm,
cc-23 then singing a tune to her. Finally, she administered ether.
cc-24  Her efforts were not futile. In no time, the goose began to tire,
cc-25  so Sarah was able to hold onto Comma and give her a relaxing bath.
cc-26 Once Sarah had managed to bathe the goose, she wiped her off with a cloth
cc-27 and laid her on her right side. Then Sarah confirmed the vet's diagnosis.
cc-28 Almost immediately, she remembered an effective treatment
cc-29 that required her to measure out a lot of medicine.
cc-30 Sarah warned that this course of treatment might be expensive -
cc-31 either five or six times the cost of penicillin.
cc-32 I can't imagine paying so much, but Mrs. Harrison - a millionaire lawyer -
cc-33 thought it was a fair price for a cure.
cc-34 Comma Gets a Cure and derivative works may be used freely for any purpose
cc-35 without special permission provided the present sentence
cc-36 and the following copyright notification accompany the passage in print,
cc-37 if reproduced in print, and in audio format in the case of a sound recording:
cc-38 Copyright 2000 Douglas N. Honorof, Jill McCullough & Barbara Somerville.
cc-39 All rights reserved.