Cleve Taylor
Bio
Published author of three books: Ricky Pardue US Marshal, A Collection of Cleve's Short Stories and Poems, and Johnny Duwell and the Silver Coins, all available in paperback and e-books on Amazon. Over 160 Vocal.media stories and poems.
Stories (164/0)
Quick, Call 911
Call 911-The Emergence of EMS Call 911. In minutes an ambulance staffed with trained Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) arrives at your door, checks your medical status, stabilizes you, puts you on a trolley, loads you into a well equipped ambulance and transports you to the nearest appropriate emergency room where emergency physicians and nurses attend your needs and possibly save your life, all the while communicating electronically as needed between the dispatcher, the ambulance and the hospital. Routine stuff now. But it was not always so. Here is a short history of how that happened through the eyes of one who was there.
By Cleve Taylor 3 years ago in FYI
Unbiased News at PBS NewsHour
Now, more than ever before, television news shows have discarded all pretense of reporting the news and unabashedly deliver up biased opinions and sometimes out and out demonstrable lies about people, politics, culture, and other issues to a loyal narrowly focussed audience who eschew any other source of news or opinion, even from immediate family. For those fixated on single source news channels, like Fox News or MSNBC, they should bite the bullet and add PBS NewsHour to their TV line up. An audience convinced that everything except what they watch is fake news needs a good dose of balanced reporting and point counterpoint analysis of the news. They can find that on the PBS NewsHour.
By Cleve Taylor 3 years ago in The Swamp
Mabel on Her Own
Mabel had insisted that she go to the Evergreen assisted living facility No way was she going to intrude into the lives of her children and grandchildren. Over the years, too often she had witnessed the strain in families when they lost their privacy, modified their routines, and made over their lives to accommodate returning adult children, often encumbered with child, or as would have been Mabel’s case, taking in an aging parent or grandparent who could no longer live alone. Too many stove burners left on, doors left unlocked, forgetfulness, and increasingly, falls, made it impossible for Mabel to continue to live in the brick rambler her husband Charles had built for her forty years before.
By Cleve Taylor 3 years ago in Families
Luck of the Draw
Marino’s Store, General Merchandise, Dry Goods & Shoes, Groceries, said the sign above the wide cypress planked covered porch which led into the mildewed white frame structure. For Teebeau, a town of a thousand whites and another thousand blacks, squeezed in between two moss draped bayous, Marino’s was THE store. If Marino’s didn’t have what you wanted, you were likely to do without, unless you had cash and access to a car to take you to New Roads, or better yet, twenty miles to the ferry to cross over into Baton Rouge for some serious shopping.
By Cleve Taylor 3 years ago in Humans
TOD, Time of Death
At first blush, knowing the future sounds pretty neat. Who wouldn't want to know what stocks were going to be hot next week, or next week's Power Ball numbers? But there can be a downside. Can't say I'm much interested in knowing when I or anybody else is going to die. That is terrible information to have.
By Cleve Taylor 3 years ago in Futurism
A Really Good Friend
My family keeps me in drink and I appreciate it. I am not an alcoholic, but I truly enjoy a cold beer or a good single malt. Years ago I implored family and friends to forego the gag gifts, puzzles, and clothing items that I invariably returned to their stores of origin and instead surprise me with a dark ale or scotch. They complied and every time I drink a dark Becks or sip a Laphroaig from a Waterford tumbler I think well of the givers. And of the Laphroaig I also think well of Dick Francis whose character kept saying "Ahaaa, Laphroaig" when tracing counterfeit single malts in one of his books. His appreciation for the peaty brand inspired me to try the brand for myself. I daresay the distillery should have given Francis a commission.
By Cleve Taylor 3 years ago in Criminal
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