My brain is running out of RAM, or is it ROM? There was no cloud to save my memories to when I was growing up, so I’ve been forced to delete and compress my files as I went along life’s journey. Lately fragments of two short stories have come floating to the fore. Wish I could remember the authors so I can look them up. I’m thinking that these stories are somehow pertinent to the present.
Both would have been written in the fifties or maybe early sixties. One story is about a duck hunter who shoots a flock of birds from the back, one at a time, so those in front aren’t alerted to what’s happening and frightened off. The other story is about an itinerant worker, a sort of medieval minstrel who (secretly) doles out lines he’s memorised from Dante, Shakespeare and Defoe to the knowledge hungry townspeople in exchange for food and shelter. The town blossoms and the subversive was taken away by the authorities and had his memories erased. I’d very much like to reread those stories so if anyone knows who wrote them, please let me know.
A Wondering Minstrel I 
I’ve waited several days for ideas to percolate, but no such luck 😦
Thanks Gwen. I appreciate your efforts. I suspect it’s a lost cause. 🙃
I’m sure you know but just in case…..
Ram stands for Random Access Memory and it is this a computer uses to forefill the commends you give it, some think of it as short-term memory because as soon as you switch off the computer the data held in RAM is lost. Whereas permanent storage of data is the hard-drive or even cloud these days. ROM on the other hand stands for Read Only Memory and it refers to permanent instructions that are hardwired into the computer when built. Which I guess you could at a stretch say is its genetic code, though ROM (also known as firmware) can be upgraded to take advantage of new technologies.
Hope I’m being humorous and helpful rather than pedantic
Best Wishes
Kevin
Maybe not humorous, but definitely informative, Kevin. My sister is the family historian. She can go back to when she was three. 🤭
Sorry Mary, I don’t know these stories. I suppose you’ve searched on line using the description given in your post? Thin chance but you never know.
Tried different search terms, Bruce. 🤭
Wish I could help you but neither sounds familiar to me. I’m with you about memory…wish there was a cloud that saved them for us. 😊
Not to worry, Karen. Future generations will be chipped with RAM/ROM. 🤭