(defun save-item (filename item)
  "save-item: allows the variable item to be stored in the file at filename as a lisp object"
 (with-open-file (out filename
                  :direction :output
                  :if-exists :supersede)
    (with-standard-io-syntax
      (print item out))))

(defun load-item (filename)
  "load-item: allows the file at filename to be parsed and stored"
  (let ((x 0))
  (with-open-file (in filename)
    (with-standard-io-syntax
      (setf x (read in))
      x))))