'Maybe the characters live on one of the Asteroids? How about one of Jupiter's dozen or so moons? How about putting them on a pebble or a grain of sand that whirls along somewhere in an outer ring of Saturn? Or you folks have a family story conference and make up your own answers. OK?'
An anguished moan 'Oh, no!' from the other end of the line. Grandchild phoned back later.
'The girl's name is Stobey and she is a space worm, and the boy is
Slutter and he's a slime.'
'Oh, my! Stobey the Space Worm and Slutter the Slime. That's a fine pair of characters you're giving me to work with. What else did you come up with?'
'Mom says for you to use your own imagination and not to bother her.'
'Hmmm, I'm being abandoned in deep space. OK, how about Stobey and Slutter in a story about a space bagel?'
'C'mon, you're kiddin'; but it's your problem, Gramps! Carry on!'
And that led to the story about':
A Bagel? In Space?
Stobey the Space Worm is a girl, and she and her friend Slutter the
Slime, a boy, live on farms next to each other. The farms are on Planet
Mars.