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)
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Dead Man's Hand
Dead Man’s Hand Wade was running a few minutes early. Judith, his former partner had called him an hour ago suggesting that they needed to meet. Judith wasn’t one to get overexcited, overexcitement resulting in bad judgment could have got them killed in their former lives, so he accepted the urgency for what it was, and agreed to meet her.
By Cleve Taylor 4 years ago in Fiction
Algorithm of My Life
Algorithm of My Life How one fills their days is interesting. Personally I prefer to live my days, the filling comes as a consequence of living, and then occasionally reflect on what those days consisted of over the past few days, weeks, months, or years.
By Cleve Taylor 4 years ago in Lifehack
Interrogation
Interrogation Dwayne sat with his eyes closed, bound to a chair with plastic ties and duct tape around his ankles. He instinctively relaxed as much as he could to relieve the pain that his bindings inflicted. He no longer knew what they wanted of him, that is if he ever knew. What was real and wasn't real wasn't clear to him, and he wasn't sure it even mattered. It was obvious to him, though, that anything he thought he knew, his inquisitors angrily told him he was wrong.
By Cleve Taylor 4 years ago in Fiction
The Nuns of NIH
The Nuns of NIH Thirty plus years ago the National Institutes of Health, simply referred to as NIH by most of the world, acquired a nunnery located at the northwest corner of the NIH campus at the corner of Old Georgetown Road and Cedar Street. It was vacant of course, but the property had not been touched by renovators. A Sister revisiting the building would feel right at home.
By Cleve Taylor 4 years ago in Fiction
Restoring the Mermaids
Restoring the Mermaids There weren't always dragons in the Valley. Nor were there mermaids in the sea. Anyone who hasn't been living with their heads immersed in a bucket of water for the last 100 years, knows that there have been no verified sightings of dragons or mermaids during that time. Back in the Middle Ages they were plentiful and could be found in deep forests and on isolated islands. Today the dragons are asleep deep in their caves, and the mermaids that are left hide deep in the oceans.
By Cleve Taylor 4 years ago in Fiction
L. Tohreaux and the Golden Pear
L. Tohreaux and the Golden Pear There weren't always dragons in the Valley. Marilyn was skeptical that there was any living there today, but she kept an open mind. As a wizardess she was only too well aware of the very real possibility that some wizard had conjured up a few while toying with the local populace.
By Cleve Taylor 4 years ago in Fiction
Reunion
Reunion Six months ago Wade had assumed that if his High School had a 40th reunion that it would be held on ZOOM, head shots only. Instead, thanks to science as exemplified by Pfizer and Moderna, and the wisdom of his generation which had over a 90% vaccination rate, he was in a rental car on his way to one of the several subset reunion parties in the home of one of his high school classmates.
By Cleve Taylor 5 years ago in Fiction
The Last Hit
The Last Hit “Who wants to have me killed?” This was not a rhetorical question Kyle was asking himself. It was a very real question for Kyle knew who had been hired to kill him, he just didn’t know who had issued the contract on him. The funny part, if an assassination could have anything funny about it, was that the assassination had been set up through a double blind process using a broker where the assassin and the person hiring the assassin could never know each others identity. In fact, the broker conducted business incognito and knew none of the parties he dealt with.
By Cleve Taylor 5 years ago in Fiction
Sic Semper Sicarius
Sic Semper Sicarius - Thus Always to Assassins He knew he should be scared, but truth be told, he was not afraid of dying. After what he did he knew that he would be hunted down. “Dead or alive, they say,” he laughed. “I think they will act as if it’s Dead or Dead. What about you David? Are you ready to die in this barn? Is this old barn the kind of place you expected to spend the last hours of your life in?”
By Cleve Taylor 5 years ago in Fiction
Accidental Death
Accidental Death If bad news caused warts, I would look like I slept with a frog. Things could not get worse. I was a Certified Financial Planner working for one of the Big Eight firms. I say “was” because I had just been told I was being replaced by an algorithm, and to take my things with me on the way out. I took my things, such that they were, and tossed them into a trash can. Seven years years on the job. Gone like a fart in the wind.
By Cleve Taylor 5 years ago in Fiction
