Grosvenor had consistently been failing to get out of bed before noon for days, and today was no exception, even though he had stayed awake on Christmas Eve after working through the night to try and re-set his body clock. He hurried downstairs, as his relatives had already started the ritual of unwrapping their Christmas gifts.

He preferred not to make too much of a fuss about Christmas; he found that not building it up meant that he now enjoyed the festive season so much more than he had as a child, when his expectations of it had been high. So it was all the more delightful to him that all the gifts he received from his relatives were items that he really wanted, even though he had not even thought of giving them any clues.

With lunch served almost immediately after the exchange of gifts, Grosvenor decided that he would wait until the early evening to telephone Juliet to wish her a Merry Christmas. He was aware that in many households, lunch on Christmas day was served late, due to misjudgements about how long it woluld take to cook the traditional bird, so Juliet might well be busy with that at any time during the afternoon.

When he did call Juliet at her husband's house, he could hear the sounds of her small daughter in the background, enjoying the day and what he assumed was a generous payload of toys. Her enthusiasm for life was such that she would probably have been as happy if she had received a few sheets of paper as a gift.

After describing her meal of deep-fried turkey to Grosvenor, Juliet mentioned that her adopted family, who lived in Italy, would be visiting early in the New Year. She said that she was keen for him to meet them. It was the first time that anyone had suggested such a thing to Grosvenor, and he was surprised and moved. He felt proud to have Juliet as a friend, but he wasn't used to the idea that someone might feel the same way about him.

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