GRANNY Noon looked out of the window. "In the old days it always snowed on Christmas Day.

"I'd walk down the hill to the church in my new boots, forbidden to scoop even a handful of snow until after the service."

She turned around to Jenny. "Not now, dear. Look out there? What do you see?"

Jenny paused before she walked to the window. Granny Noon, her Mum's mum, was older than forever and sometimes she smelled like the graveyard. Not today, today she smelled of spiced apples and fresh pine leaves, as if she'd taken a bath in one of the Christmas scents her mum left on the sideboard.

"Nothing, Granny," Jenny said.

"That's right, nothing." Granny Noon pressed her nose against the window. "Nothing."

"When will they be here?" Jenny asked.

"Soon."

Jenny looked behind her at the living room, decked out for Christmas; the tree with bright baubles hanging from it, a pile of wrapped presents huddled around the base. The fairy on the top was grey rather than white but her mum said that it was an heirloom so it didn't matter that it was a little tatty. It looked like every Christmas Eve Jenny could ever remember.

Except her mum and dad weren't there. They were away and Granny Noon said they would be back soon, but Jenny felt that Granny Noon had been saying that for… hours, days, weeks. She was beginning to forget what they looked like.

"I miss them."

"And they miss you, Jenny."

"They told you?" Jenny asked. Her voice was high with excitement, her cheeks red and her eyes were as bright as the shiniest bauble that hung from the tree.

"No," Granny said. She took Jenny's hand in her own. It was cold. Colder than ice. Cold as forever. "I know that they miss you because I know that they love you. Just as you love them. Isn't that why you're here now? Because you love them?"

Jenny nodded. She didn't know quite how she had come to be here. She was here because…

"Because you want to be," Granny Noon said. "Because this is where you have to be."

"When did you know you were…" Jenny stopped

"Dead," Granny Noon said. "It's all right to say it dear, words can't hurt us. Words can't hurt anyone."

"When did you realise?" Jenny asked.

"I'd be reaching out to pick something up and then the next thing I knew I was standing in a different room or a different house. I thought I must be going mad, because that's the obvious reason. It took me a long time to realise. Even now I still don't know what happened to me."

"You didn't have anyone to explain what was happening?"

"You mean like I did to you? No duckie."

"You must have been very lonely."

"I was, but then you came and I wasn't lonely anymore."

Jenny tried a smile, just to see how it felt on her face. "Do you think we'll get better?"

Granny Noon smiled. One of her teeth was missing. Jenny wasn't sure she'd ever noticed this before.

"We can't get better, duck," Granny Noon said.

"Ever?"

"Not ever."

Jenny pressed her nose against the glass. There were still things she missed: like breathing on to the window and drawing pictures in the mist. Now it made no difference how long she blew on the glass, it remained clear.

A car pulled up outside the house. In the half-light of the evening it was hard for Jenny to see the occupants. The couple were older than Jenny remembered. Not much, but her mum seemed to have a few more strands of grey in her hair and her dad trudged beside her as if walking was difficult for him.

They stopped at the front door, white light washing over their faces, turning them into ghosts.

"They're here, they're here," Jenny shouted. She got up from the chair and ran to the door. She turned around. "Aren't you coming?"

"In a moment, duck. I take a little longer to get moving. It's these old bones of mine."

Jenny hurried back across the room, "I'm sorry Granny, it's just I'm…"

"I know, you're excited. I am too darling."

The front door opened and light slipped beneath the door of the living room, picking out the glass baubles on the Christmas tree. Even the grey fairy seemed brighter now, as if she might step down from the tree, sprinkle a handful of fairy dust, and everything would be right again.

"You know," Granny Noon said, crouching down to Jenny so that her face was level with Jenny's eyes. "You know that it can never be the same again?"

Jenny nodded. For a moment, Granny Noon's face shimmered and Jenny knew it was because her eyes were filled with tears. "I know," she said to Granny, "but that doesn't stop me from wanting it."

"Nothing can ever stop you from wanting it," Granny said.

The door to the living room opened. The slice of light beneath the door was replaced with a bright yellow glow. For a moment there was just the light, and then the two shapes walked into the room.

"Mummy, Daddy," Jenny said. She ran towards her parents.

"John, did you…?" the woman asked.

The man shook his head and Jenny could see that in his eyes were tears. Not just little tears like the ones she had shed when she talked to Granny Noon, but large droplets of water that ran freely down his cheeks.

"No Mary," he said, "you couldn't have heard anything."

"But you heard her too," the woman said.

"Mummy," Jenny said. She walked up to the woman's side and tried to slide her little fingers into her mother's warm hand. Just for a moment she felt something and then it was gone, like trying to hold a snowball.

"I love you Mummy," Jenny said. "Happy Christmas."

"Come on, Mary," her father said. "You've had a long day."

"But I heard her John, I really heard her."

"She's gone, Mary."

Jenny watched her mother walk from the room. She paused at the doorway, her hand hovering over the light switch, the room fell to darkness and they were gone.

In the gloom, Jenny could still see Granny Noon, her silhouette outlined with a grey shine. Like the moon. Granny Moon, Jenny thought and the laugh slipped from her throat.

"They'll be back?" Jenny asked.

"Yes dear. Next year and the year after. They'll be back for you each year and they'll never forget."

Jenny took her Granny's hand. For a moment it was cold, nothing like the warmth of her mother's palms. They walked through the building and out into the lane. Jenny shivered – there were some things she could never get used to, no matter how long she stayed down here.

She looked over her shoulder at the house. Silver and gold lights twinkled through the windows.

"Come on duck, it'll be Christmas again before you know it."

Jenny started to walk, and as she did, the first snowflakes began to fall.