Fabulous Five 024 - The Great TV Turnoff

by Betsy Haynes

  "Now you're calling me stubborn. What is this, some kind of conspiracy?"

  "Sorry, Katie," answered Jana. "I was just trying to be a friend and tell you what Tony was saying. I've got to go now. I'll see you in the morning."

  Katie stared at the telephone after she hung up. What was wrong with everybody, anyway?

  When Katie got to school the next morning, she was not surprised at the number of students who had something to say about the turnoff.

  "I'll do it, but I'm not happy about it," Mandy McDermott said, as Katie stopped beside a group of girls at the drinking fountain. "I don't really watch that much television, but I hate being told what I can and can't do."

  "I watch lots," admitted Lisa Snow. "But I think it will be fun in a way. There are tons of things I keep meaning to do, but most of the time I just cop out and turn on the TV instead."

  "Right," Alexis Duvall added, nodding, "and my parents are always calling me a couch potato."

  "What I'm worried about is homework," said Dekeisha. "I always do homework in front of the television. I don't know why exactly. Maybe I just like the background noise."

  "Hey, Katie, how do you feel about giving up TV?" asked Mandy. "I mean, it's your mother who started all this."

  Katie swallowed hard, wishing desperately that she didn't have to answer. How could she explain to her friends that the whole idea for the turnoff had actually started when she had gotten angry at Tony for watching too much TV and had complained to her mother? She couldn't, that was all there was to it. "I . . . I don't really watch a lot of TV, either," she fumbled.

  Alexis frowned. "Then you probably think this is a great idea."

  "Yeah," added Mandy. "It's nothing to you if everyone else is miserable without TV."

  "That's not true," Katie began, and then stopped. The only way she could defend herself would be to put all the blame on her mother. That would be an invitation for the others to bad-mouth Willie, and no matter how she felt about the turnoff, she couldn't let that happen. Throwing up her hands in frustration, she stomped away.

  When Katie and Melanie arrived at Bumpers, Jana and Christie were saving seats. The fast-food restaurant had gotten its name from the brightly colored carnival bumper cars that were placed around the room for kids to sit in. The place was crowded with boys and girls, and the old Wurlitzer jukebox was blaring away.

  "Where's Beth?" asked Melanie.

  "The Media Club's having a meeting after school," said Jana. "She said she'd be here later."

  "Anyone want anything?" Melanie asked. "Shane's at the counter, so I'm going to get a soda."

  "I'll take one, too," said Katie, digging in her purse for money.

  Melanie came back shortly with Shane and Randy Kirwan. Katie looked around for Tony. He wasn't there. She had an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach that it was because he didn't want to see her.

  "So, Shane," said Christie. "What's going on with Igor these days?" Igor was Shane's iguana.

  "He was tired when I left for school today. Night of the Iguana was on the late movies last night, and he stayed up to watch it. There were popcorn kernels all over his cage this morning."

  The Fabulous Five laughed.

  "Hey, Katie, is it true that there's no more TV for Wacko kids for the rest of the year?" Randy asked.

  Katie's backbone went rigid.

  "Yeah, I heard that, too," said Shane. "If it happens, I'm going to have to have a long talk with Igor. He loves TV, especially Late Night With David Letterman. He'd hate giving it up. But that's okay. The light from his TV has been keeping me awake, anyway."

  "Laura's spreading that rumor," said Katie. "She's even saying that it was my idea, but it wasn't."

  "What about video games?" asked Shane, looking at Katie. "Does that count as watching television?"

  Katie shrugged. She hadn't thought about video games. "I don't know."

  Shane looked puzzled. "If we can't watch television and we can't play video games, what's left in life?"

  Shane and Randy looked at each other. "School?" they asked in unison.

  "Aagh!" cried Randy, acting as if he were hanging himself.

  "As far as I'm concerned, until somebody tells me otherwise, video games aren't part of the turnoff," Shane declared emphatically. "Hey, look. Here come Jon and Scott." He nodded toward Jon Smith and Scott Daly, who had just walked in the door. "Let's see if they want to play video games Saturday."

  "Boy, Laura's not wasting any time starting rumors," mumbled Melanie, after the boys had left.

  "Well, if that's all she does, sooner or later everyone will know she wasn't telling the truth," said Jana. "Most kids probably don't believe her, anyway."

  "Geena did," said Katie. "She heard Laura's rumor that no one can watch television for the rest of the school year, too, and she thought it was true until I straightened her out."

  Katie glanced up just as Beth walked into Bumpers and headed straight for them.

  "Hi, everybody." Beth plopped down in the seat next to Jana. "Boy, have I got something to tell you. Jack Albright, the star of that new hit TV series Taking Chances is coming to town, and the Media Club is going to have a chance to interview him for the local cable station. Mr. Levine wants me to be the one to interview him. Can you believe that?" Her eyes were dancing. "Connie Chung, eat your heart out!"

  "Oh, wow!" exclaimed Melanie. "I'd die if I got to be in the same room with Jack Albright."

  "Gee, that is great, Beth," said Christie. "When's the interview?"

  "Next Wednesday. A week from tomorrow."

  "You're not planning on a new outfit for the interview, right?" Jana asked, grinning. The last time Beth had been on television with the Media Club, she had borrowed Shawnie Pendergast's credit card to buy new clothes and spent a fortune.

  "No new wardrobe," said Beth sheepishly. "But I'm dying to meet Jack Albright. He's such a great actor." Then Beth's smile faded. "There's one problem, though. The interview will probably be shown on cable television during the turnoff. You might as well know right now that if that happens, I'm going to cheat and watch myself on TV."

  Katie swallowed and looked at Beth, not knowing what to say. She could understand Beth's position, but The Fabulous Five always stuck together. How could her own mother have started something that was going to split them apart?

  Katie suddenly became aware of a nearby conversation.

  "Can you imagine such a dumb thing?" Laura McCall was saying to Daphne Alexandrou, Shelly Bramlett, and Holly Davis, who were sitting in a yellow bumper car about ten feet away. "This used to be a free country, but now we're being forced to turn off our television sets and leave them off. And it's all one person's fault," Laura reminded them.

  "It's going to be tough," said Daphne, "but it will be a challenge, too. And I'd love to beat Branford. They've really been rubbing it in about beating us so many times in sports this year."

  Holly nodded.'"I have a cousin in Branford. She said that they don't care who else they beat as long as they beat Wakeman. It would serve them right."

  "I already know what's going to happen at our house," said Shelly. "My brother will have more time to pick on me, and I'll fight back. My mom'll be out of her mind by the end of the two weeks."

  Laura leaned forward, a pleased look on her face. "Plus I heard that Mr. Bell asked Katie Shannon's mother to help run the turnoff. Just because she doesn't like to watch television, she doesn't want anyone else to, either. I bet she has lots of other great ideas for us, too."

  Katie's face turned bright red, and little explosions went off in her brain. Jumping out of the booth, she stomped over to Laura and stood in front of her with her fists on her hips and her feet planted wide.

  "Laura McCall! You don't know what you're talking about! That's not at all why my mother is organizing the TV turnoff."

  "Oh?" said Laura, looking like a cat that had just swallowed a mouse. "She's probably not telling Mr. Bell how to run the turnoff, either?"

  "He a
sked for her help," snapped Katie, "and she's helping. That's all! And not only that, I'm helping, too!"

  Katie couldn't believe what she had just said. She had actually committed herself to working for the turnoff when it was the last thing in the world she wanted to do. Still, she thought desperately, what else could I do?

  CHAPTER 6

  "What's that?" asked Dekeisha Adams, as a crowd gathered around the bulletin board outside the school office the next morning. Katie had to bounce on the tips of her toes to see.

  "It's a notice about a school assembly for the TV turnoff on Friday," Marcie Bee called from the front of the crowd.

  Dekeisha's face lit up, and she nudged Katie,, saying, "Hey, an assembly means we can get out of class for one whole period. Maybe this turnoff isn't such a bad idea after all."

  Everyone laughed, and Marcie went on, "It says that anyone who wants to perform a skit, read a poem, or do anything that has to do with turning off television can participate in the assembly."

  "Does that include people who are against the turnoff?" asked Taffy Sinclair. "If it does, maybe I'll do something."

  Katie looked at Taffy in surprise. She had been a real snob when The Fabulous Five were in Mark Twain Elementary, but Taffy had changed a little since they'd started junior high. Now she sounded like her old self. It was probably because she had recently starred in a Hollywood movie that would be shown on television in a few months.

  "I wonder if twirling a baton would be a good idea," mused Kaci Davis, a ninth-grader.

  "Maybe you can twirl a television set instead," Shawnie Pendergast said sarcastically. Kaci looked down her nose at Shawnie, and a lot of kids laughed.

  "I have a super idea," said Dekeisha. The tall black girl smiled mysteriously. "But I'm going to keep it a secret for now."

  Geena McNatt's brothers, Max and Joe, stopped to see what was going on. Max was in the ninth grade and a member of the football team, and Joe was an eighth-grader.

  After he read the notice, Max grumbled, "They're really going ahead with this turnoff thing, huh? Well, there's no way I'm going to miss wrestling on TV for anybody."

  "Me, either," said Joe.

  "Wrestling?" asked Kaci with a sneer.

  Max glared at her as the McNatt brothers moved on down the hall.

  Katie was relieved to hear so many kids making plans for the assembly. That had to mean that most of them were planning to go along with the turnoff after all.

  What about Tony? she wondered, thinking about how he believed she was using the turnoff to get back at him. Would he refuse to participate just to spite her?

  "This TV turnoff contract says I can't watch videos or play video games," said Beth. The Fabulous Five were seated in Bumpers on Thursday afternoon after school. The turnoff contracts had been handed out just before the dismissal bell, and students had been instructed to take them home and discuss them with their families. If they decided to take part in the turnoff, they were to sign the contracts and bring them to the assembly the next day.

  "They all say that," said Jana. "See, my contract is just like yours." Jana pushed a sheet of paper toward Beth. On it was written:

  I, _________________________,

  AGREE TO THE FOLLOWING:

  1. I will not watch television or videos or play any video games for two weeks.

  2. I will find other things to do by myself and with my family and friends.

  3. I will keep a detailed diary during the turnoff that describes the things my family did together, the things I did with my friends, and everything else I did that I would not have done if I had been watching television.

  4. I will keep an honest record of the times when I couldn't resist and watched TV or a video or played a video game. I will also record my feelings about not watching TV.

  This contract will be for the period of __________ through __________. Upon completion of the turnoff I will receive a special award.

  Signature _________________________

  "So if I sign this," Beth said, frowning, "I definitely can't watch the tapes the Media Club is producing, right?"

  "It includes all videos," replied Katie.

  Beth sank back against the booth and sighed. "But why does the turnoff have to happen now, just when I have my big interview with Jack Albright? How can I stand not watching that?"

  Christie smiled sympathetically. "I know it will be tough, but it's just for two weeks."

  "But it's the biggest interview of my life." Beth pretended to sob. "What if some big producer from a national network sees it and wants to offer me a job? I low can I tell him that I haven't seen my own performance?" She sighed loudly and added, "Of course I know that won't happen. And of course I'll sign the contract. The Fabulous Five stick together, right?"

  Melanie turned to Beth. "If you can wait to see your interview, I guess I can give up my soaps for two weeks."

  "Thanks, guys," said Katie. "You don't know how much this means to me. Not that I'm crazy about this turnoff, cither."

  "Believe me, I thought long and hard about doing it," Melanie said sadly, "especially since Sylvia was run over by a motorcycle while she was shopping for her wedding dress and ended up in the hospital."

  "Sylvia?" echoed Christie.

  Melanie nodded. "Don't you remember her? She's this beautiful girl on Interns and Lovers. She's been trying for months to get this gorgeous guy, Cal, to notice her. She's so crazy about him that she's secretly looking for a wedding dress."

  "That's gross," said Katie. "Doesn't she have any other ambitions?"

  Melanie shrugged. "Cal is totally gorgeous, and that's all she can think about."

  "So she's in the hospital, and everything is ruined for her?" asked Jana.

  "Oh, no. It's great that she had the accident!" exclaimed Melanie.

  "It is?" the other four asked in unison.

  "Yes. You see, Cal is an intern at the hospital. He'll have to notice her now."

  "Oh, no." Katie slapped her forehead. "I can't believe this."

  "Things like that can happen in real life," Melanie said defensively.

  "I didn't mean I didn't believe that it could happen," said Katie. "I meant I couldn't believe anyone would watch that stuff."

  Melanie stuck out her lower lip. "No matter what you think, Interns and Lovers is very realistic. It deals with real emotions, and the stories are sensitive and romantic. I think it's great."

  Katie chuckled. "Okay, I give up," she said. "After hearing all that, I'm twice as glad that you're going to sign your contract."

  Melanie beamed back at Katie. "The part in the contract about keeping a diary just gave me a great idea. Every afternoon when I get home from school I'm going to write down what I think is happening on Interns and Lovers that day. That way, I won't miss the program as much, and I can compare what I thought would happen with what really did happen after the turnoff is over."

  "Hey, that's a neat idea, Mel," said Christie. "And if you predict exactly what happens, you won't have to waste time watching anymore."

  At that moment, Shane, Randy, Keith, and Jon approached The Fabulous Five's booth.

  "Boy, Katie, you did it to us this time," said Shane. "This contract says no video games." He waved the paper in the air. "That wipes out our Video Game Club."

  "Yeah," agreed Keith, "and I was going for the championship of the club this weekend. Now it'll be two whole weeks before Jon and I can play our big match."

  "You guys didn't have to sign it," said Katie defensively. Then she smiled and added, "But I'm glad you did."

  "Since we can't play video games Saturday, like we usually do, we decided to build rockets instead," said Shane. "We're going to use the vacant lot by my house to launch them from."

  "Yeah," said Jon, "and we're trying to talk Shane into letting Igor be our first astronaut."

  "I think you should call him an iguananaut," offered Melanie.

  Shane chuckled. "That's a good idea, but I don't know if he'll agree to it. He's intere
sted in designing rockets. I think he wants to be a rocket scientist."

  Suddenly a thought occurred to Katie. "Did all of you guys sign contracts?" she asked, glancing at Tony, who was across the room, talking with Bill Soliday.

  Randy shrugged, and the boys looked at each other. "The four of us did," said Randy.

  Katie wanted to ask about Tony, but she didn't want to look too interested. Who cares whether he signed, anyway? she asked herself. But deep down in her heart she knew that she did care—a lot.

  CHAPTER 7

  Friday afternoon Katie craned her neck to spot her friends among the kids pouring into the auditorium for the TV turnoff assembly. She wished that she could sit with them, but Mr. Bell had asked her to take part in the ceremony—had actually insisted she take part. That meant she had to sit in the back of the auditorium with the others who would be going on stage.

  "Katie!" called Christie. She was waving over the heads of a group of eighth-grade girls. Katie motioned her and Jana over and then explained that she couldn't sit with them because of her part in the assembly.

  "Luck," said Jana, holding up both hands for Katie to see. She had her fingers crossed on both hands.

  "We'll sit down in front where you can see us while you're onstage," Christie told her. "Melanie and Beth are backstage with the other cheerleaders."

  Katie watched as the two girls found seats together in the third row and squeezed in. The Fantastic Foursome were sitting in the row behind them. Katie was surprised to see Laura and Tammy. Both of them were cheerleaders and should have been backstage with the others. They're probably boycotting the turnoff, thought Katie.

  Suddenly the lights in the auditorium dimmed, and the audience hushed. Over the loudspeakers came the DUM-DUM-DA-DUM of funeral music. Onstage the curtains opened ever so slowly, revealing a television set sitting on a pedestal with a funeral wreath on it. Its screen glowed white, but there was no picture. A single spotlight shone down on it.

  Mr. Bell walked out onto the stage wearing a black suit. He looked very solemn as he stepped to the podium and looked out over the audience.