Information flow from present to past and past to present

In my framework, the story moves forward and topics move along curves in what is called a "ledger". Examining it from the outside, you can pause anywhere you like in the chronology of the ledger and talk about information flow forward and backward at that point. 

I tell the story: I drove to town, went shopping, and was going to the hardware store when my car engine started acting up on me.

Here, the fact that you are driving makes the car an implicit topic. So you can bring it up as a non-sequitur. When the car starts having engine problems, that back-fills into the ledger via some kind of link. 

Suppose I continue with the story: I went to the garage but I spent too much money shopping and could not afford repairs.

Here, the fact that I went shopping from the past forward-fills a need for money - again by some kind of link.

I do not have vocabulary for the "links".