Anne Bond, character in Janine, of Paradise story arc

from *The Essential Paradise*, series sourcebook

## Personal information

* Full name: Anne Frances Bond
* Birthdate: 15 February 1988 (Aquarius)
* Birthplace: Mercy Hospital, Hurricane Hole
* Parents: Constable & Mrs Bond
* Nationality: Paradisian citizen, belonger
* Residence: 6 Meadow Lane, Holiday Park, Devon Township, Eden I.
* Height: 152 cm [5 ft 0 in]
* Weight: 43 kg [94-1/2 lb]
* Figure: slight, slender, as for pubescent
* Hair: blonde, medium wavy,; pixie-cut in Dec 2000, allowed to grow to just past shoulders
* Eyes: hazel
* Complexion: fair; well-tanned
* Ethnic background: English, Australian
* Religion: Anglican
* School: North Eden High School, Eden I.; O-levels: 2004

Story arcs: Janine, of Paradise; 2001-2005

## Family life and background

Anne’s mother, Carolyn Bond, is a Paradisian native and belonger who works as a filing clerk at Doane Fitters in Township Road. Her father, Philip Bond, is an Australian native who, his father having served in Paradise during the 1939-1945 War, returned to the territory, became a constable with the Royal Paradise Police Force and is now stationed in Devon Township. Anne has a younger sister, Carol. The family live in an Opal model 1-1/2-storey faux-Tudor house in the Holiday Park section of central Devon.

Philip Bond does not appear to be of any relation to Teresa Bond Peale, who appears in *The Seduction of Susie* and successive stories in the general Paradise Two arcs.

Though Carolyn’s father has some wealth, as married she and her husband are often wanting for discretionary funds. Nevertheless Mrs Bond has insisted on a broad cultural education for her daughters, frequently escorting them to museums, exhibits and shows within the territory. Anne grows up artistically astute and a great fan of theatre, opera and ballet. For her 13th birthday, her mother presents her with tickets to see The Royal Paradise Ballet performing an off-season production of *Swan Lake*, in which Gwendolyn Dahl, recently returned from success at the XXVII Summer Olympic Games, is prima ballerina. Janine remarks that the tickets probably cost her mother £60 each, no small outlay for a family often trimming expenses.

Anne studied ballet for about six years and took tumbling throughout elementary. Having left off both for by the start of her second-form year, she retains the poise of a disciplined dancer and the physical enthusiasm and stamina of a small child. Whenever out for recreation she is usually eager for activity and often prefers to run rather than walk from place to place.

## Appearance

Anne is blessed with a sweet childlike face, big eyes and petite proportions. Her breast development lags behind that of most of her peers, a point about which she is perennially dissatisfied. Amongst the Devon Girls she is, at age 14, last to reach menarche and shares with Janine a distinct lack of maidenhair till her 13th birthday.

Her hair is wavy, worn long, and is naturally light brown but, as with many in Paradise, it has lightened considerably to a rather comprehensive blonde. She takes little interest in styling her hair before beginning third form (age 13-14), after which she pays almost obsessive attention to it and in fact achieves appealing results.

## Personality

With her childlike appearance, Anne is also noted for a childlike disposition, markedly more innocent, in interest and ideas, than most of her peers. However she is also known for an angelic sweetness of temper, never short on patience (except with herself) and eager to forgive and forget, which endears her to all who know her.

As to schoolwork she is less motivated than some, frequently scoring only in the low- to middle-80s of percentile, due more to lack of interest rather than to lack of intelligence. Predisposed to chat with anyone she knows, and to neglect homework assignments, she is often assigned detention at NEHS. She openly admits envy and admiration for Ava Kane, Janine and Barbie French, who of the Devon girls are typically the highest-scoring students and perhaps the most intellectually confident as well.

## Relationships

Anne’s favourite companions clearly are the other Devon girls, from whom she receives acceptance, confidence, great fun and positive examples. She displays a particular fondness for Jill Manning, who is a role model in asserting self-confidence. She is well-liked, even protected by her friends, who cherish her innate happiness and innocence. She is unaffectedly affectionate and initiates cuddling, hand-holding and kisses on the cheek more readily than do any of the others, none of whom is ever tardy to reciprocate in kind.

Anne is often on the telephone and is known to be charmingly loquacious, amusing with jokes, and for funny tones of voice and a musical, almost squealing sort of laugh. She can be somewhat self-deprecating, preferring to bestow compliments and assertions of admiration on her friends rather than to receive compliments herself, mainly out of Christian unselfishness but in part due to a struggle with low self-esteem and depression.

In *Janine’s Night To Remember*, Jill and Janine agree that Anne is probably not yet ready to think of herself as a potentially-attractive young lady in whom boys might be interested. Anne and Janine meet for a bus after school and Anne appears unused to receiving any male attention at all, as Janine’s narration reports:

> ‘Is it only me,’ she wondered, as [Anne] leaned in to share my umbrella for the walk out to the bus; ‘or is every desperate yob in the school hitting on anyone on two legs for the dance?’
>
>

> I laughed, putting an arm about her as well, and we stepped out. Jill and Stephanie followed under Jill’s umbrella. ‘It’s not only you, I’m afraid,’ I said.
>
>

> ‘Foo. Wish it were.’
>
>

Even whilst Anne expresses the least interest in attending the NEHS Valentines’ dance, she and Janine, who attends with Charlie Richardson, are the only ones of the Devon girls with actual escorts.

### Relationship with Janine

Though older by four months, Anne is a great admirer of Janine, whom she considers the best of what girls their age can be: pretty, culturally astute, socially adept and morally good. The two share interests in ballet, theatre, orchestral music, art and physical science, about which the other girls seem less interested or aware. Both have seen shows throughout Paradise and both have been out of the country, including to Sydney, for seeing arts and cultural events. Each girl’s mother has been instrumental in ensuring such and education for her daughter.

Anne seems to never miss an opportunity to profess her love and adulation for Janine, frequently with deep sighs and wide eyes like an awed fan beholding a world-famous idol. In return Janine is particularly tender towards her, indulging Anne’s need for physical closeness by holding hands, cuddling, fondling, and kissing. The affection is only mutually Platonic, more sisterly than romantic, but often causes raised eyebrows amongst others, even the other Devon girls.

### Relationship with Carol

Carol seems to worship Anne, taking examples and seeking guidance and encouragement from her in the same way that Anne takes after Janine. Anne regards her obligations to her sister as above all other responsibilities, determined to provide the best advice and to set the best examples for her, mainly out of a natural and deliberate tendency but possibly as a response to the positive effects of Janine’s affection for her.

According to a confession she makes to Janine, Anne is shy about snogging with boys due to embarrassment she feels about having practised romantic kissing with her sister.

## Hobbies and interests

She is characteristically energetic, preferring physical activity and athletic competition to television or reading. She is fond of hiking, swimming, and cycling and is known to walk long distances rather than to take the bus, which some attest is due to her never having ample funds for fares.

Though she leaves off taking formal ballet lessons, Anne remains in gymnastics through 3rd form at NEHS. Her floor-exercise and balance-beam routines, whilst not technically remarkable, are performed gracefully and visually delightful.

Anne is fond of scrapbooking and keeps copious collections of photographs and mementos which the other Devon girls often consult to recollect events of their shared past. Her bedroom tends to be cluttered with toys, stuffed animals, dolls, photos and souvenirs of sentimental value.

She dislikes household chores, which she is assigned by her working mother, and often neglects to tidy her own room in favour of pursuing activities she considers more fun.

She has taken some art classes at school but probably lacks the perseverance to complete or perfect many of them. She enjoys singing and participates in the North Eden High School choir as well as in the youth chorus at St Peter's Church.

Anne often claims that her sister Carol is her best friend and unapologetically chooses to play games with her rather than to pursue activities more typical of teenagers. Anne and Carol enjoy playing at dolls and board games, drawing and painting, dancing to recorded music, and constructing playhouses of cushions, bed pillows and other materials in either of their bedrooms, before the television, or in the rear garden. Though an access door in Carol’s room, they have discovered the eaves of the house where they fashion a secret hiding-place where they have even slept a few nights in the spirit of play and adventure.

Mr Bond installed a gate in their garden fence to permit access to the Simpson’s Well Park, an historic site adjacent to the Bonds’ section; and Anne and Carol like to frolic about the park grounds, statuary, outdoor exhibits and picnic area , often in their handmade costumes and often after dark. They are frequent visitors to the Devon Township Recreational Area, adjacent to the elementary school over Hillside Road. Anne likes clothes, though she has few things at or near the height of fashion due to having frugal parents and little, and only infrequent, spending money. She often amuses herself by fashioning costumes, some of which are quite daring, by cutting up old clothes or by sewing together scarves, stockings, scraps of fabric or cutup old clothes, a hobby she shares with Carol. The two like to model their creations for each other and then wear them about, usually only in the house or gardens, in pursuing games and other activities.

## Appearances in the stories

Anne makes her first appearance at the start of *Janine’s First Date*, when she and her sister join the others for childish cavorting at the playground, something they often do. Stephanie Maber and Anne do without shirts, not an uncommon practice in Paradise, and soon take up with the two boys, whom they have all known all their lives, apparently for some fondling or snogging. The episode, whilst a fair introduction of Anne in the Janine of Paradise arc, is atypical in that Anne nearly never acknowledges boys in general, believing herself unworthy of their attention.

In *Janine’s Night To Remember*, the girls go shopping for dance frocks and Anne is crestfallen to realise she has no funds for buying one;. The other girls all contribute what they have and are able to buy for her a suitable dress which, simply cut and untailored, Anne at first believes will only emphasise her childlike figure. But, buoyed by their compliments and wearing her own white shoes, she turns up well-outfitted for the event, finding a major boost for her confidence.

In *The Sins of Saint Janine*, Anne attends the sleepover following Stephanie’s 13th-birthday party with Barbie and Janine, sleeping with Barbie in the television room. In the morning Janine discovers her masturbating alone in the sofa-bed and leaves her to it. The girls all visit Surfside beach; Anne wears only striped cotton panties for swimming in the sea and later goes out of her way to apologise to Janine for what she had been doing. That Sunday, seeing Anne weeping through much of the Lenten Eucharist service, Janine takes her aside and the two share their individual confessions with each other, agreeing on a pact to do the best they can and to rely on each other’s support.

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Doc. 6.79.21. b. 2015.1002. ©Jonnie Comet Productions Ltd. All rights reserved