Janine Hewlett, character in Two Paradises fantasy/fiction realm

from *The Essential Paradise*, series sourcebook

#### **Janine Constance Hewlett** is the principal character and narrator of the Janine, of Paradise story arc, within the ‘Paradise Two’ domain of the Two Paradises fiction/fantasy realm, as devised by author Jonnie Comet.

As narrator, Janine provides detailed descriptions of locations, practices and interrelated characters that can be considered typical of adolescent Paradisian life.

## Personal information

* Full name: Janine Constance Hewlett
* Birthdate: 19 June 1988 (Gemini)
* Birthplace: Mercy Hospital, Hurricane Hole.
* Parents: John Edward Hewlett, Jane Frances Hewlett
* Nationality: Paradisian citizen, belonger
* Residence: Devon Township, Eden I.
* Height: 156.2 - 160.8 cm [61.5 - 63.3 in] (age 12 yrs 10 mo - 15 yrs 10 mo)
* Weight: 49 - 51.7 kg [108 - 114 lb]
* Figure: shapely, with slender middle; B 82C-88.4D; W 52.1 - 58; H 78.2 - 88.4 (age 12 yrs 10 mo - 15 yrs 10 mo)
* Hair: very dark brown
* Eyes: greenish-grey
* Complexion: fair; well-suntanned
* Ethnic background: English
* Religion: Anglican
* Occupation: secondary-school student; office clerk; flower arranger
* School: North Eden High School, Eden I.; O-levels: 2004
* Sport: swimming & gymnastics, till S 1st
* Story arcs: *Janine, of Paradise*; 2001-2005

## Early life

Janine spent her youth in a pleasant two-storey tract house at no. 8, Woodside Lane, in central Devon Township, Eden Island. The house, known as the Treat model, is one of four different models constructed in the Well Valley of Devon between 1986 and 1994, all styled in a revisionist Tudor manner, and has four bedrooms, two full bathrooms plus ground-floor toilet and washroom, and an attached garage, above which is Janine’s childhood bedroom.

Janine attends Devon Township Elementary School for her primary and elementary years, and North Eden High School (NEHS) from her start at secondary. Neither school is far from her home and she has typically always walked to school. At the bottom of Woodside Lane, a peaceful footway leads through Daylet Park directly to the back of the high-school sports field.

Janine (‘little Jane’) is ostensibly named for both her parents, Jane (‘Fanny’) and John.

She has a brother, John Jr, known as ‘Johnny’ (b. 1990).

## Characterisation

Janine is known for being pretty, polite and proper. Her deportment is that of a lady in all situations; at times she either boasts of having displayed good manners or struggles to convince her mother of it. She frequently refers to herself as a prude or a ‘priss’, aware that others probably think that way of her. Conscious of her own exceptional beauty, she is nonetheless very popular with other girls who tend more to envy her modest disposition than to feel jealous over her natural assets; indeed she never shows off what she can take no credit for. In many ways she is the adhesive common to all the Devon Girls and amongst most of her other friends.

At the beginning of *The Initiation of Janine*, she is at once childishly optimistic and self-consciously shy, surprised or unwilling to accept that an upper-form boy like Charlie Richardson would ever admit any interest in her. Almost in the same paragraph she mentions that more than once she has been mistaken for being older, an assumption that has been based not entirely upon her looks. She takes great pride in being well-thought-of and uses the approbation of others, especially her father, the other Devon Girls, and certain other friends, as motivation to do well and to be a good example. All her friends’ parents seem to like her; several times someone’s mother has used her as an exemplar of what girls should be like.

Amongst friends she is easygoing, gentle, and, though her own narration reveals it only rarely, fond of giggling, laughing and cutting up with the rest of them. Her sense of humour tends to be wry, even thoughtful, rather than coarse and puerile. With Charlie she is at first shy and unsure of herself, but at no time does she compromise her own dignity or sense of honour, earning respect from Charlie and all others. She can become very girllish, such as in *The Rainy Picnic* and in *The Far Island* when she is caught in the rain and can only squeal squeamishly for help. She can also be indefatigably brave, intelligently resourceful, and romantically sappy, and is never boorish or unappealing.

### Astrology sign

As a Gemini, Janine is naturally diplomatic, prone to seeking relationships between similar or compatible people and reconciliations between those who have quarrelled. She intervenes in the relationship rift of Ralph Nelson and Ginnie Petter, taking a vocally aggressive stance against Ralph for his apparent philandering and shining like a heroine to the devastated Ginnie. She also likes clothes and shopping for clothes a great deal, being known for always dressing appropriately and being adept with makeup, hair, and accessories even when still 12 years old; and all her friends seek her advice about fashion and personal style.

By her attitudes and behaviour Janine may seem more of a Cancer than a Gemini, valuing family, tradition, romance, sensuality, and emotional stability over lightheaded flirtation and radical risk-taking. Indeed she is never seen to flirt, not even with Charlie. (She also has a figure more often associated with Cancer girls than with Gemini ones.) As a girlfriend, and later as a wife, she is content to allow Charlie the initiative, though she is never dull-witted or backward in suggesting anything should it occur to her sooner or more clearly. Once married she is a natural wife, affectionate and sensible, and embraces motherhood with good humour and a deep sense of responsibility, often singing for, talking to and playing with the baby.

### Lefthandedness

Janine is lefthanded, the only one in her immediate family (and the only one amongst the Devon Girls). In *Janine's First Date* Charlie notices and mentions the common conception that lefthanders are better lovers, which disconcerts Janine as she has no idea how anyone might be able to tell. When she and Charlie begin sleeping together, her side of the bed places her to Charlie’s left, so that when they turn towards each other, each may touch each other with the dominant arm and hand. Her interests in graphic arts, in dressmaking, and in relationships are typical of one more right- than left-brain dominant; but she is also exceptionally cerebral and claims to enjoy reading and writing for school.

Author Comet frequently uses lefthandedness as a kind of trope to indicate a quality of being exceptional, typically in an artistic or philosophical vein, such as with Jonathan Cavaliere of the *Wilshire Tales* and Pamela Nichols of *Pamela; or: Virtue Reclaimed*. Though not a genius like either of those characters, Janine is nonetheless exceptionally intelligent, socially mature and empathetic.

## Education

As narrator of *Initiation*, the introductory episode in the story arc, Janine describes herself as being a strong student academically. Though she excelled in both swimming and gymnastics, just prior to beginning her second form (the start of *Initiation*) she has ended her participation on both teams. She reports having been something of a prodigy in piano during her elementary years and has participated in school choir and student government. Her favourite classes are apparently English, for she likes reading, and French, taught by Nicole Skolnik who is probably her favourite teacher. However Janine does not seem to care for her third-form English class, which covers the Romantic poets, as is seen by her mocking of the assignments in ‘The Condemnation of the Sordid, and the Boon of the Pure’.

She likes drawing and graphic arts, becoming a favourite of the computer-draughtsmanship instructor, Mr Crofts, who recognises her aptitude and counsels her towards a future in architecture or engineering. She is rewarded with Mr Crofts’ CAD Prize for extraordinary work in the discipline in both 3rd and 4th form and in 5th form receives the North Eden Design Award for best original technical design.

She dislikes PE, mainly because of having to change out of an outfit into which she puts great effort, and for the effects on her hair and makeup. Another reason may be because of the activities’ demands on her burgeoning figure, which is likely why she quit swimming and gymnastics after turning 12.

Janine’s school career is only conventional until her fourth form, when she announces her engagement to Charlie Richardson. The two are married that July and Janine must commute from their marital home to complete her fifth and final form at NEHS.

She is nominated for North Eden Cotillion Princess twice, taking second runner-up in 4th form and being deemed ineligible in 5th form due to being married.

## Religious conviction

Beginning in February 2001, Janine attends classes for Confirmation preparation with Fr Pawlett at St Peter’s Anglican Church in Hillside Road, Devon, where she attends Eucharist regularly, and is confirmed on Easter Eve, 14 April, 2001, by Bishop Grey of the Paradisian diocese. She is an eager participant in most parish events, perhaps because they are attended by so many of her friends from the neighourhood that the events seem only like one more merry party of friends. But clearly she takes her faith life seriously and often applies lessons from confirmation class and Fr Pawlett’s sermons to the challenges of her own life and those of her friends’.

When Charlie mentions that he attends church only infrequently, she is surprised to have found any one who does not practice religion as dutifully as she and her girlfriends do. He later begins attending with more regularity and will cite Janine’s religious faith as a key factor in his spiritual growth, increase of personal confidence and professional success.

Janine contributes to the church charity and social events, offering to make rag dolls in *Janine's Night To Remember* and baking biscuits for the bishop's post-Confirmation reception in 'Baking Biscuits'.

## Appearance

As narrator, Janine describes herself as being the only dark-haired one of her family. In fact her hair is nearly black, tending to be wavy, almost curly, typically worn thick about her head, occasionally pinned-up or drawn back in a plump plume. Her eyes are said to be greenish. In *First Date* Charlie mentions that he likes her eyes, which Janine describes as ‘large and ovoid’. Also in *First Date* Charlie says that the shape of her lips gives her a ‘kissable mouth’, explaining that, at rest, her lips do not fully close but remain parted, revealing her upper teeth. Janine realises her mother has the same trait, marvelling that her mother has a ‘kissable mouth’ as well.

### Figure

Janine’s most prominent feature may be her bust. She reports that by the age of eleven she was wearing a proper brassiere and at 12-1/2 she is into a C cup, which she says is not the best thing to have happen at that age. The extraordinary bust size is apparently not a factor of her weight, for Janine is otherwise normally-proportioned and mentions in a few places that she is ‘top-heavy’, suggesting that her hip dimension is less than her bust. In *The Marathon*, Charlie attempts to guess her brassiere size and she reveals (to the reader, not to Charlie) that she wears an 84C at the time.

Her figure draws undue attention. She reports in *First Date* and in *Growing Pains* that some boys she has dated have indulged natural curiosity by fondling her, which she says she did not regard as particularly disrespectful. When she appears at Surfside beach, with Sally, in *Initiation*, it is the first time she has gone topless on a public beach in some time.

Janine also is an example of partial precocious puberty in that, despite exhibiting the breast development of someone two or three years older, she has not yet experienced any growth in her maidenhair and appears entirely hairless in her crutch. This enables her to still wear plain white knickers as leisure attire, something none of her friends can do without great courage (or audacity), without showing what would be very dark hair through the light-coloured cotton.

 File:Wikia; Janine 20010526.jpg
## Modes of dress

Janine tends towards short skirts and dresses, typically coming close to and occasionally transgressing the NEHS dress-code limits, such as in ‘The Wrong Dress’. This may be an example of the Fashie look. Ordinarily she wears bikini swimsuits to the public beach. She typically keeps several, a red one and a turquoise-and-white one being amongst her favourites.

She does not often wear briefies though in *First Date* she wears them to rendezvous with her friends, first at the schoolyard and then at the beach.

Most of her clothes must take into account her ample bust, which her mother insists she attempt to minimise. Essentially Janine is conservative and modest and makes no undue issue of her natural assets, preferring to dress sensibly in order to gain the respect of older and more mature persons in her life and even insisting that she should appear only as God made her to be.

### Knickers

Janine becomes fond of wearing lingerie as leisure wear, an example of private attire. She ordinarily sleeps in only knickers and will go down stairs for breakfast without otherwise dressing. She often goes out wearing knickers and some sort of top, typically tied-up about her ribs, which as a matter of consequence, not design, tends to emphasise her bust.

In *Perfect Day* she attends a market fair at Coventry with Charlie, wearing nothing but white knickers and shoes. In *Beach House Party* she is the youngest guest at a party with Charlie in North Beach Road, Surfside, wearing only turquoise-and-white striped knickers. The experience leaves her disillusioned with Charlie’s friends at the party, all of whom are older and less moral than she, but more confident about appearing only as a healthy person of her own age, even when amongst others who do not appreciate her as such.

### Nudity

Following her experience at Waterton Heath nature park (‘The Surprise Picnic’), Janine gains more confidence at being entirely naked, something she pursues with Charlie in ‘Naked Revels’ and in *Janine’s Festival*, even before she and Charlie consummate their relationship sexually. In *The Far Island*, she and Charlie spend an entire weekend together without clothes at Trundle Beach on Caravelle Island, an adventure they repeat the following season.

Janine and Ginnie Petter participate in the Surfside Splash on New Year’s morning, 2002, by frolicking nude in the surf shortly after midnight. Followed closely by their boyfriends in the car, the two girls walk back up Long Shore Road without dressing nor carrying clothes. They stop for a visit to Sally Henderson and later attract the salacious attention of some boys in the stairway park but are preserved in safety back to Ginnie’s house.

## Relationship with Charlie Richardson

Janine knows of Charlie from before the beginning of the series but formally meets him at a New Year’s party held at Randy Fulbright’s house. Over the events of *Initiation* the two become better acquainted, including intimately, before Janine pops out of a cake by way of providing Charlie with a 16th-birthday present. Afterwards they agree to consider themselves steadily dating.

Despite an age difference of over 3-1/2 years, their relationship, if at times intensely intimate, is pleasant for them both, mainly because it is founded on a sincere romantic and personal attraction between the two. By degrees their intimate experiences escalate: Janine experiences her first orgasm, visits a naturist preserve with Charlie, and dances outside in the nude just to show off for him. With most of her inhibitions out of the way, they make a very levelheaded decision to venture into sexual intercourse only after Janine’s 13th birthday, a milestone that is consummated during a day’s sail on Ariadne, Brian Traynor’s Cavaliere 48 sailboat (*Janine's Watershed*).

As their relationship develops, both Janine and Charlie become more serious about each other and about their future together. They take a few clandestine holidays together and attend several fancy-dress and formal functions. When Charlie finishes his sixth form and begins work for a division of the territorial utilities commission in Avon Township, necessitating a very long daily commute from Derby, he surprises Janine by suggesting that they take the tenantless Greenlea Castle, a small but well-kept older house on the moor outside Waterton, proposing marriage into the bargain. The decision places Charlie in very good graces with Geoff Rhys, an executive at the utilities commission. Rhys accepts a role as Charlie’s professional mentor and offers his former home to encourage him to settle down with Janine, whom Charlie has represented as being an excellent candidate for a professional man’s wife.

Charlie and Janine wed in July 2004 and, after a honeymoon in London, return home to Greenlea. Janine learns to drive and in September begins a daily routine of commuting 40 minutes to NEHS each day to finish her fifth form and take her O-levels. She is said to be one of only three or four girls in anyone’s memory to complete her fifth at NEHS after getting married.

In consideration of the usual fortnight’s processing (‘waiting’) period, Janine, aged 15 years and 16 days upon her wedding, may be the youngest-possible bride under Paradisian law. The story arc focuses on the perhaps-unique set of challenges an essentially normal girl must face in willingly venturing so early into an adult-level life.

## Other relationships

In all the stories Janine exhibits a friendly but aloof attitude towards those who are not her closest friends, hoping to not offend even as she endeavours to avoid misunderstandings. Aside from Charlie, all of her confidantes are girls, nearly all of her own age. She also finds numerous friends amongst adults, even coworkers, teachers, one of her school counsellors, her doctor at the women’s clinic and, once, a psychologist she meets whilst shopping.

### Relationships with boys

By Janine’s account she has dated eight times before taking an interest in Charlie. Two of the dates were with boys she had dated before. Of all the boys, only one was not in her form, being Walter, a year ahead, whom she knows from church and whom her mother encouraged her to see. Tommy Heidelbraun, Mark Hannigan and Bobby Ryan have been neighbours and classmates for so long that they are only merely friends, whom Janine sees often, usually in the company of other girls. One classmate, John Seward, demonstrates a devout infatuation with her, though with him she is only ever friendly and polite. Following her wedding, John comes to terms with her having become permanently unavailable and resolves to consider her a good friend in return.

Another boy, Frank, shows respect for her as a classmate and fellow graphic-arts student from the start, as though-- perhaps due to his being only pubescent himself-- he has not yet begun to recognise pretty girls for their femininity; thus Janine regards him as a pleasant friend throughout the series.

Her younger brother's friend Brett suffers an obvious crush on her, considering Janine, especially whilst topless, much prettier and more interesting than his own elder sisters. Janine does tend to indulge her ego in tantalising Brett, who is two years younger than she, content to encounter him and address him whilst she is scantily dressed and occasionally teasing him about his embarrassment in her company.

### Stalkers

Janine seems to attract older men, who, because of her appearance, probably believe she is over fifteen. In *First Date* she unwittingly provides a stranger with a flattering view of her breasts whilst sunning topless on the beach. Later, a middleaged man attempts to make conversation on the bus, disembarks where she does in Hurricane Hole and even proposes that they share a taxi, all of which Janine rebuffs in determination to safeguard her virtue and reputation.

### Relationships with girls

Sally Henderson, Charlie’s first cousin and friend to Janine, first brings them together at her house under the excuse of doing homework together. For motives which are not entirely made clear, she orchestrates their initial involvement till she is sure Charlie and Janine have become sufficiently attracted to each other to proceed on their own. Her efforts include participating as a third, and with Charlie alone, to instill Janine with jealousy, and masturbating with Janine watching to encourage her to develop sexual desires. With Charlie’s sister Emily she organises the party for him, convincing Janine to be the girl in the cake, and continues to be keenly interested in, and consistently encouraging of, their relationship. Janine is able to disregard Sally’s more outré moments and recognises her true love for both her cousin and her best friend, and the two will remain close for ever. Ultimately Sally becomes a bridesmaid at their wedding and is named godmother of Constance, their first child.

### The Devon Girls

Janine is one of a close-knit group of six familiarly known as ‘the Devon Girls’, who have all known each other since starting primary. The others are Anne Bond, Barbie French, Ava Kane, Stephanie Maber, and Jill Manning. All but Ava, who is Jewish, are in the same confirmation class at St Peter’s and all live in the Holiday Park neighbourhood of central Devon. In almost every episode, Janine is either with Charlie or with one or more of the Devon Girls, typically shopping, visiting a beach, or attending a birthday or family party.

Anne, though four months older, tends to regard Janine as a mentor with more common sense and maturity than she believes she has herself. She admires Janine’s figure, having nothing like it herself, and though her family are less than wealthy she tries to emulate Janine’s sense in wardrobe and accessories. In *The Sins of Saint Janine* she confesses particular transgressions to her, seeking absolution or at least understanding; and Janine reminds Anne that the only intercessor she needs is Jesus, which is what they have learnt in confirmation class.

Barbie is perhaps the closest to being Janine’s true peer, being equally confident, sensible, and pretty. In *First Date* and elsewhere she is said to have a ‘perfect bikini body’ (for a second-former just turning 13) and Janine admits envy for her attractive, though more normal, figure. Janine often shares cuddles with her and sometimes calls her ‘Babsie’.

Ava, something of a mentor to all the girls, is nonetheless less-experienced than any of them socially, being from a conservative Jewish family, and has a particular soft spot in her heart for Janine. The two are, respectively, the eldest and youngest of the Devon Girls. Upon learning of Janine’s menarche, Ava helps her shop for the necessary supplies and treats her to tea, advising her on how to interpret Charlie’s apparent reticence in committing to a dating relationship. For Valentines’ Day, which she does not observe, she and Janine meet in the school corridor and Ava is prodded into giving her blessing to Janine’s date with Charlie to the dance, which proves prophetic.

Stephanie may be said to be Janine’s oldest friend, though perhaps Stephanie and Barbie, living just two doors apart, may have been acquainted with each other longer. Janine regards Stephanie as somewhat delicate, especially emotionally, and in *First Date* worries that her stunt of popping out of the cake may have offended Stephanie’s more conservative, sheltered sensibilities. But Stephanie makes no secret of her overt admiration of Janine, often gazing at her in worship or else taking her hand in shops or on the street. The two sleep together, both naked, in Stephanie’s bed during *The Sins of Saint Janine*; it is an example of both girls’ reluctance to give over the innocent practices of childhood on the occasion of Stephanie becoming a teenager.

Jill is more of a foil to Janine, in her use of coarse language, assertive manner, and a matter-of-fact way of confronting challenges, whilst Janine is more delicate and diplomatic. Still she hides no little admiration of Janine, being the one whom Janine chooses to go with her to buy a bright-red push-up brassiere for the Valentines’ dance, which Jill (who cannot, yet, make use of one) finds utterly fascinating. Her sister Alicia was Charlie’s date to the Christmas dance in 2000, so she is aware of Charlie’s reputation as something of a playboy. Like Janine, Jill takes a tender interest in Anne’s lack of self-confidence; in *Night To Remember* the two discuss Anne’s readiness to assume more ladylike deportment in order to attract boys.

Other girls with whom Janine has close friendships include Jeanie Wilkes, Samantha Lowndes, ‘Sweet’ Clarice Howe, and Ginnie Petter. Formerly one of the Devon Girls, Ginnie moved with her family to Surfside in the middle of their elementary third form and Ginnie began turning in other circles till rejoining them all at NEHS. She makes no secret of having a great fondness and even reverence for Janine despite having become one of the most popular-- and considered one of the prettiest and most flirtatious-- girls in their year. Ginnie likes to think of Janine as a sisterly mentor and is one of the first in whom Janine confides after she and Charlie consummate their affair. Ginnie, who is involved with her distant cousin Ralph Nelson, seeks Janine for advice on relationships. Following her 13th birthday party, Ginnie goes with Janine to the clinic in Somerset for her first examination and birth-control-pills prescription.

## Relationship with family

Janine is a confirmed believer in the value of a traditional family, consistently participating in and upholding the traditions of family gatherings and observations. She is a favourite with her parents’ parents, who appear often at Woodside Road for holidays and birthdays.

### Relationship with her mother

On the surface Janine’s relationship with her mother appears strained. The two rarely recognise any common ground, beyond their familiar connection, which neither ever neglects; in this Fanny Hewlett may represent an example of the masterful mother. Janine chafes under her mother’s constant concern, which tends to come out as chastisement and judgement rather than with tenderness and sincerity. She is frequently the brunt of almost-disrespectful jibes from her mother, such as on her short hemlines, abbreviated states of dress, late returns home from dates, and her whole preference for Charlie, a boy Fanny considers much too old for 12-year-old Janine at the start of the series. But Janine never yields in the important issues and gradually Fanny comes to respect her as a fellow woman, fellow wife and fellow mother.

### Relationship with her father

Janine is clearly the apple of her father’s eye and is well aware of it, making their relationship an excellent example of Daddy's good girl. She is often able to play him for reduced restrictions, more allowance, and favouritism when going up against her mother’s decrees. For his part, John Hewlett is truly gentlemanly, as amused as he is impressed to see his daughter growing up with good sense, and feels no regret about indulging her often wily requests. Janine is ever aware of his expectations of her and regards his approval, and his example, as the most important of her life.

Learning of his daughter’s intention to work for her own money, in 2002 John arranges for his employer, Paradise Casualty Ltd, to take her on as a part-time office assistant, a role in which she excels. The experience, though lasting only through summer recess, proves professionally and socially beneficial to both father and child.

### Relationship with her brother

As the elder sibling, Janine is often entrusted with looking after her brother, who alternatively seems to resent and to respect her authority. In reality, the two are very much aware of what they must be to each other, and Janine tends to regard Johnny with the same sort of respectful delicacy with which their father regards her, at once amused and concerned for his well-being. In *The Perfect Day*, she listens attentively whilst he reports on his day at the airbase exhibition and in *In Public And In Private*, she provides sensible advice about test-flying paper aeroplanes whilst sunning in the rear garden, securing his respect and trust.

After his sister and Charlie set up housekeeping at Greenlea, Johnny is amongst her first houseguests; she and Charlie arrange the room above the garage just for Johnny’s use, as the house is situated near a prime break for surfing, which Johnny takes up after starting secondary school.

## Hobbies and habits

Janine seems to like cooking and baking and on numerous occasions, notably in ‘Baking Biscuits’, she is seen baking for church events and preparing food for friends, for Charlie and for her family. Fanny often expresses surprise at Janine's ability in the kitchen; and, once Janine begins keeping house at Greenlea, her parents visit and her mother is impressed to find the meal adequately prepared and presented.

Janine also sews, an ability she has learnt from her mother, a talented amateur seamstress. In *Growing Pains* she volunteers to make cloth dolls for the church fundraiser. Aware of what makes clothing sensible or durable, she is often consulted by friends as to what to buy or what to avoid.

Her bedroom at Woodside Lane is cluttered with dozens of fluffy creatures and dolls, collected over the years, most of which are displayed on a set of shelves her father and uncle Earl Perkins made for her. She reports that she enjoys reading and has many paperback novels.

The core of the *JOP* story arc is the underlying fact that the whole text is a letter or journal, meant for her daughter to read some time long in the future; but Janine is never seen to be writing in a journal so it is probable that she is recalling all these events whilst writing about them in the future.

Janine’s narration does not make use of Paradisian slang, but her dialogue does. She is an adequate example of a normal Paradisian second-form girl with regard to vocabulary, grammar, faddishness, fashion, religious beliefs, sense of patriotism, and sense of moral values.

## Sexual experience

Charlie Richardson is the only boy with whom Janine is involved sexually. Once having bestowed her virginity to him aboard the Ariadne, Janine’s interest in sexual activity increases, surprising Charlie who has expected to find her only casually, cautiously or conditionally willing. They make love often in Charlie’s bed but only a few times in Janine’s room. She assumes the initiative often and seems to enjoy the 'cowgirl position'. In *The Marathon*, she is first to suggest that they endeavour to find how many times they can have intercourse in one weekend, and only Charlie’s stamina and recovery hold them back from going at it nonstop.

Janine tries new ways to surprise Charlie and to keep his interest, such as wearing no knickers under her skirt or going out for a date in knickers and nothing else. Several times, early into their sexual involvement, she surprises him in his bed, usually in the morning and even instead of attending church. Once they set up housekeeping at Greenlea, Charlie regularly comes home from work to find her, often nude, eager to have sex with him, even before, or instead of, dinner. Even after becoming pregnant she is frequently aroused beyond the ability to resist and, in spite of interrupting his work assignments at home, takes to mewing and begging for his attention. Only in this period does she takes to masturbating, something she has considered unnecessary given her otherwise healthy relationship with Charlie.

As exciting as she finds sex, Janine regards it only as a part of a whole relationship with Charlie, never yielding to base lust over common sense whilst never turning down a reasonable opportunity to enjoy intercourse. She provides advice to Ginnie Petter about more ladylike ways to entice Ralph Nelson to make love and in return receives advice from Ginnie about how to perform fellatio, which she does for Charlie’s 17th birthday.

As a young girl keeping her sexual relationship a secret from her family, Janine can be considered an example of a closeted hussy.

### With other girls

After her first attempt to encourage Janine by masturbating for her, Sally tries again during rain season 2001; but only once does Janine take the example and indulge herself in Sally’s presence.

In May, Janine visits Ginnie and the two masturbate together on Ginnie’s bed before sharing a bath in dipilatory lotion. Entertaining both their boyfriends for Valentines’ Day weekend, 2002, the two girls perform a strip-tease dance together and, once nude, taunt and tickle each other before taking their boyfriends off to separate bedrooms for the night.

As part of her bachelorette sendoff, Sally takes Janine to a full-service spa in Sugar Island where, side-by-side, the two girls are massaged inside as well as outside by the staff. At first very anxious, even worried, Janine eventually relaxes and experiences a profound orgasm, with Sally holding her hand, in spite of the spa’s (all-female) staff being present.

### Use of naughty words

In *The Angel of Angel’s Wood*, Charlie and Janine make love half a dozen times on a remote beach and he comments, mainly in teasing, that her panting exhaustion after one ardent session is evidence of her having been ‘well-fucked’. Thereafter the two adopt a playful code by which the word *fuck* is to make love somewhat more actively than their usual tender, romantic way would be. Janine later shares the information with Ginnie who adopts the same sort of code for the word with Ralph.

At some point Charlie refers to Janine’s fanny as *cunt*, at first startling Janine who quickly realises the use of the word arouses them both. They develop another code for this word as well, using it privately but not quite as frequently as they do the word *fuck*.

## Appearances in the stories

Janine is the principal character and narrator of all the *Janine, of Paradise* story arc. She is not mentioned in any other P1 or P2 stories except for the NEYLA novella, featuring Sally Henderson, which is tangential to the *JOP* story arc but is told in an omniscient third-person point of view.

### With characters of other arcs

In *Best Impressions*, Anne takes Janine up to her room to complain about childish gifts her mother gave her for her birthday; and Janine reminds her of the great expense and great honour in her receiving tickets to see Gwendolyn Dahl dance Odette with the Royal Paradise Ballet in *Swan Lake*. Anne goes to see the ballet with her mother and returns with typically effusive praise for the presentation (Anne appears, in the queue for autographs of Gwendolyn and the male dancers, ahead of Starla Truro in the novella *Star of the Garden*). Both girls have considered this a last chance to see Dahl as rumours suggest Dahl and Lord Jonathan are to be engaged (which happens some four months later). In *Janine, and the Ariadne*, Janine admits that she, like many other girls in the territory, feels full of romantic notions, at once envious and elated to hear of the engagement. The following year, the Devon Girls and hundreds of others line the streets of St Alice to watch Dahl’s bridal carriage approach St Andrew’s Church for the wedding.

Though Janine participates in gymnastics during her first form at NEHS, 1999-2000, Lady Kimberley finishes her fifth form, over 1999-2000, at Paradise Intersport Academy on Hope Island, in training for the XXVII Olympic Games that September; so the two are never in the same school at the same time and do not encounter each other.

During her honeymoon in London, Janine encounters Lady Paradise at a jumble stall in Covent Garden. As Lady Paradise had addressed her 4th-form NEHS health class in 2004, Janine approaches her with a respectful curtsey and is rewarded with pleasant surprise from Lady Paradise who is delighted to be recognised by a fellow Paradisian so far from home. Whilst Charlie is still shopping elsewhere, Janine has a short but memorable conversation with Lady Paradise, who poses with her for a few photos, which Janine treasures for ever.

## Future timeline

According to outlines proposed by the author, the births and marriages of Janine's children, grandchildren, great- and great-great-grandchildren were plotted in order to project her likely lifespan. One detail noted is that, including Fanny, there are six consecutive generations of Perkins first-borns who are girls.

Being married at ages 15 and 18, Janine and Charlie consider, during their honeymoon, that they have the potential to celebrate a 75th wedding anniversary (in 2078), which also was plotted in the outlines. By these outlines Charlie dies in 2080, aged 95, and Janine in 2086, aged 98.

## \* \* \*

Doc.b. 2015.0814. ©Jonnie Comet Productions Ltd. All rights reserved.