'A space story, Grandpa, write me a space story.'
'Space? What do I know about space? Where in space?'
'Far out.'
'How far? Space is humungous.'
'Tell me about it. I watch TV cartoons too.'
'Well then, as one expert to another, this calls for a telephone story conference.'
The next ten minutes consisted of an in-depth give-and-take during which grandchild enlightened me about our Sun and its family of planets. Together, we counted off and named the planets from Mercury on out, guessed at the number of moons orbiting each, and which of the outer planets had rings '…that look like flattened hula hoops.' It wasn't long before I was frantically leafing through the encyclopedia I hauled out to the dining room table as we talked. After all, to this (then) six- year old, I was 'grandpa', and grandpa, to a six-year old, knows, doesn't he? Finally, I succumbed to Grandchild's demands.
'OK. I'll write a story, but first I got questions. Holler Mom to the extension phone. Tell her to bring notepaper and a pencil.'
'Hi, Dad, what's happenin'.'
'Don't ask me, ask my grandchild; she gave me the job. But I wasn't born yesterday, ol' gramps is switching this around to a family project, so are you ready, I hope. OK? Write this down and call me back with the answers. I need a boy character and a girl character. Give them names. Next, where do they live? Just 'in space' ain't enough. Where in space? On the moon? On Mars along with that double-jointed six- wheeler we sent up a few years ago there to sniff around in potholes and climb over rocks? Where?