Collector's Item

"Collector's Item" by Robert F. Young is a science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. The narrative centers around a Galactic Historian tasked with condensing extensive histories of various races into a single manuscript, only to have it compromised by a mischievous breeze. This story navigates themes of memory, history, and the quirky nature of collection and ownership, ultimately reflecting on the significance of recorded history. In the plot, the Galactic Historian, overwhelmed by his responsibilities and personal troubles, fails to notice an essential page from his manuscript being whisked away by a strong gust of wind. This page, filled with critical historical dates and events, lands beneath a xixxix tree, home to two squixes—tiny, curious creatures with a penchant for collecting anything small enough to carry. The squixes, upon discovering the page, eagerly decide to create a hammock out of it, completely unaware of the historical value of their new possession. As they attempt to sleep on their creation, they are plagued by bizarre dreams, emblematic of the weight of the history they are now nestled upon, blending humor and introspection in an imaginative narrative. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Robert Franklin Young was an American science fiction writer born in Silver Creek, New York. Except for the three and a half years he served in the Pacific Theatre during World War II, he spent most of his life in New York State. He owned a property on Lake Erie.