Fabulous Five 024 - The Great TV Turnoff

by Betsy Haynes

  THE FABULOUS FIVE #24

  THE GREAT TV TURNOFF

  BETSY HAYNES

  A BANTAM SKYLARK BOOK®

  NEW YORK • TORONTO • LONDON • SYDNEY • AUCKLAND

  RL 5, 009-012

  THE GREAT TV TURNOFF

  A Bantam Skylark Book / April 1991

  Skylark Books is a registered trademark of Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and elsewhere.

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright © 1991 by Betsy Haynes and James Haynes.

  Cover art copyright © 1991 by Andrew Bacha.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  For information address: Bantam Books.

  ISBN 0-553-15861-9

  Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada

  Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words "Bantam Books" and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10103.

  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  CWO 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  For Susan Johnasen Smith

  CHAPTER 1

  "Tony, did you hear that Derek Travelstead asked Tammy Lucero to go out for pizza last night?" Katie Shannon asked Tony Calcaterra. The two of them were sitting on the sofa in Tony's family room, along with some of Tony's other friends. A baseball game was on the television.

  "Um hm," Tony mumbled, his eyes glued to the TV screen.

  Katie frowned. He had barely heard her question. "I really can't see those two together," she continued. "Can you?"

  "Right," Tony said absently.

  Katie was getting more annoyed by the second. He was obviously more interested in a dumb baseball game than he was in her.

  Narrowing her eyes, she asked, "What do you think about the situation on Mars? Do you think the Grysnoks or Platybabies will win the Diddly Plop tournament?"

  Tony flashed her a quick smile. "Yeah, sure. Hey, all right!" he cried suddenly. "Did you guys see that?" He leapt off the sofa. "Did you see that play Canseco made? Man, he's out of sight."

  Randy Kirwan pounded his fists on the floor, where he was stretched out on his stomach in front of the television. "He's the greatest. I bet he's the best player of all time."

  "Naw," disagreed Keith Masterson, whose legs were dangling over the arm of an easy chair as he munched on a handful of potato chips. "Rickey Henderson is the greatest. He can even steal bases. Canseco can't keep up with him."

  Katie rolled her eyes in frustration. Last Saturday night Tony had been so involved in a baseball game that was on TV that he had been late picking her up for their date. He'd been so late, in fact, that they had totally missed the movie. Because it was a thriller, the theater wouldn't admit anyone after it started. Katie had been terribly disappointed. She had really wanted to see the movie. Tony had apologized. He had promised her that in the future he wouldn't get so carried away with ball games on TV that he would forget about her, but it was happening again. She could hardly believe it!

  Other than passing him a few times in the halls of Wakeman Junior High, she hadn't seen Tony all week. She had come to his house this Saturday afternoon hoping to spend some time alone with him. Instead she was sitting in a room full of boys watching a dumb baseball game on TV. Worse yet, he hadn't even heard her gibberish question.

  "Tony!" she said, raising her voice.

  "Yeah? Hey, look at that, Katie. Canseco's getting a standing ovation from the crowd. I love it! I love it!"

  Katie got up and stomped out of the room. She pulled open the front door, then hesitated, hoping Tony would come after her.

  Instead he just called, "You leaving, Katie? See you later."

  She opened her mouth to reply just as a cheer went up in the family room. "Forget it," she muttered, then slammed the door behind her.

  As she strode down the walk, she thought back angrily over the past week. In spite of his promise, it had been one baseball game after another. He hadn't come over to see her once, and now all he said when he saw her leaving was, "See you later." Well, she would show him. If he called her later to apologize, she wouldn't be home. Melanie Edwards's house wasn't far, and she jumped on her bike and headed there.

  Mrs. Edwards greeted Katie at the door. "Hi, Katie. Melanie's in the living room watching TV."

  "Hi, Mrs. Edwards. Thanks."

  Melanie had been one of Katie's best friends ever since the two of them, along with Jana Morgan, Christie Winchell, and Beth Barry had formed The Fabulous Five when they were in fifth grade. Right now Katie needed to talk to someone about Tony, and there was no one who knew more about boys than Melanie. Katie found her planted in a recliner.

  "Hey, Katie. Come on in," Melanie called, looking up. "You've gotta watch this Star Trek rerun. The crew from the starship Enterprise finds some kids on this planet. Something has happened to the adults, and the kids live in these old buildings all by themselves. They can hardly remember grown-ups—they call them grups. I've seen it at least a dozen times, but I still love it. Can you imagine living in a world without grownups?"

  "Sounds great," said Katie, settling into a chair. She watched the show for a few minutes before bringing up Tony.

  "Melanie, I've got a prob—" she began.

  "Just a minute," Melanie interrupted. "This is a funny part. Watch what they do next."

  Katie looked back at the screen, where the kids were running around like monkeys. It didn't seem that funny to her.

  She tried again. "Melanie."

  "Let's not talk until this is over, okay?" said Melanie, her eyes glued to the TV.

  Katie sank back in her chair and stared at the screen. What in the world was so special about this program that two friends couldn't even talk? It looked like just another dumb TV show to her. Katie knew that Melanie was hooked on soap operas, but she hadn't realized she was hooked on Star Trek reruns, too.

  "I've gotta go," said Katie. "I'll see you later."

  "See you," responded Melanie, waving good-bye without taking her eyes off the television.

  "I'm home!" called Katie as she walked in the front door.

  "Hi, sweetheart," returned her mother from her office.

  Katie was tempted to go talk to her mom, but she knew if Willie was in her office, that meant she was busy working on a free-lance writing assignment and didn't want to be disturbed. Katie's dad had died when she was little, and her mother worked hard to support both of them.

  Katie threw her jacket on a chair and headed upstairs. She flopped backward on her bed and took a deep breath, wishing she had someone to talk to.

  Christie! she thought. I'll call Christie. Why didn't I think of her sooner?

  Christie's mother answered the phone.

  "This is Katie, Mrs. Winchell. Is Christie there?"

  "Yes she is, but she's watching a National Geographic special on television for a school science project and can't come to the phone right now. Do you want me to have her call you?"

  "Oh . . . yes. When she gets time, please." Katie hung up the phone dejectedly.

  She felt like one of the kids on the show Melanie had been watching, but instead of the grups disappearing, all her friends had disappeared, mostly to TV land.

  The urge to talk to someone grew stronger, and K
atie wandered into the little spare bedroom that served as her mother's office.

  "Hi, honey," Willie said as she made a note on a yellow pad of paper next to her computer before turning to Katie. "Hey, why the long face?"

  Katie shrugged.

  "Come on now, sweetheart. This is your mom. If anyone can tell when something's bothering you, it's me." Her mother listened closely as Katie told her about her day.

  "Sometimes I think television should be banned," said Katie.

  Willie nodded sympathetically. "You mentioned a unit on television and the family in your Family Living class. Has the teacher discussed any of the harmful effects of watching too much TV?"

  Katie shook her head. "Nope. We've mostly talked about good and bad programs. My teacher, Mrs. Clark, talks about violence on TV, what's good for children to watch, stuff like that."

  "Is that all?" asked Willie, looking concerned. "Doesn't she ever talk about TV's becoming a substitute for human interaction? Or how it can affect basic family relationships?"

  Katie glanced at her mother in surprise and said, "No."

  Mom has that fiery look in her eyes again, she thought. The one that usually triggers a protest of some sort, or a newspaper article.

  "Well, that's ridiculous!" her mother cried. "The teachers ought to be showing you kids that not watching television is far better than trying to decide which programs are okay to watch and which aren't. I'm surprised there isn't a TV turnoff project in your Family Living class."

  "A TV turnoff?" echoed Katie. "What's that?"

  "It's when all the kids in a class and their families turn off their television sets for a week or more," Willie explained. "In fact, sometimes entire schools do a TV turnoff."

  "They do?" Katie asked incredulously. "They don't watch any television at all?"

  "None," her mother replied emphatically. "In fact," she added, waving her pencil at Katie, "the junior high school in Branford had a TV turnoff just last month. It was a great success. Did you hear about it?"

  Katie shook her head. Branford was a small nearby town, and Branford Junior High was one of Wakeman's biggest rivals in sports. Still, Katie hadn't heard anything about a TV turnoff.

  Willie looked as if she were miles away. "I ought to drive up to Branford and interview the people involved," she said slowly, as if the idea were still forming in her mind. "Then I could write an article about their project for our local paper and suggest that Wakeman Junior High students do a TV turnoff of their own."

  A little tingle of fear ran up Katie's spine. She hadn't really meant it when she'd said TV should be banned. She was just angry at Tony and Melanie. But now Willie was talking about having a huge TV turnoff at Wakeman Junior High. If the kids at Wacko couldn't watch TV for a whole week or more, they'd be furious. Even worse, Katie thought miserably, they'd be furious at me!

  "Mo-om," Katie pleaded softly. But as she glanced at her mother, who was busily making notes on a legal pad, she had a feeling of impending doom.

  CHAPTER 2

  Katie forgot all about her mother's new project until she picked up the newspaper the next Saturday afternoon. Willie's article took up the entire lower half of the front page.

  The headline blared: BRANFORD TELEVISION TURNOFF A HUGE SUCCESS. Underneath that, in smaller letters, was: Similar Turnoff Suggested for Wakeman Junior High. Even worse, her mother's byline was on the story, for all the world to see.

  Katie groaned as she skimmed the article. Willie called television one of the greatest menaces in society today, and she quoted people who said that watching too much TV was ruining the lives of children. Then she went on to report that several people in Branford who had taken part in the turnoff said that it was the best thing that had happened to them in a long time. The article ended with a plea to Mr. Bell and the teachers at Wakeman to conduct their own turnoff.

  Katie let the paper drop into her lap. Oh, please, not Wakeman Junior High, she prayed fervently. The kids at Wacko will blame me. They'll burn me at the stake like Joan of Arc. They'll push me off a bridge—if they can find one high enough. Tony won't like me much, either, if he can't watch his precious baseball games.

  "Oh, brother," Katie muttered. "This is all I need. I just hope that nobody—I mean, nobody—reads it."

  "I saw your mom's article in the paper today," said Jana that evening as The Fabulous Five stood in front of the ticket booth at the movie theater in the mall.

  "So did I," said Christie.

  "I'd hate to be in your shoes if Mr. Bell decides Wacko ought to follow her suggestion and do a TV turnoff," Beth chimed in, giving Katie a sympathetic look. "On the other hand," she added quickly, "I'd hate to be in my shoes, too, now that I'm in the Media Club and we have our own weekly TV program. A turnoff would mean that nobody in Wakeman could watch our show. Your mom wouldn't do a thing like that, would she?"

  Katie shrugged. "I'm really worried. You know my mom when she gets on a campaign, and she's all fired up over this TV issue. She thinks everyone would benefit from a TV turnoff."

  "How could I possibly benefit?" Beth demanded. "I'm learning all about television production, as well as how to become a performer. My whole future is at stake."

  Katie was beginning to feel trapped. "Hey, it's only for a week," she argued.

  Melanie's expression was one of horror. "I can't miss my soaps for a week. How would I know what's happening to the people on Interns and Lovers? I'd die. Especially now that I have an autographed poster of Jason Rider, the star. I mean, I'd feel disloyal."

  "Oh, Melanie, don't be silly," said Christie. "You could just tape the show every day, the way you do anyway. Then you could pig out on a whole week of Interns and Lovers one day when the turnoff's over. Just think, five straight hours of Interns and Lovers. You'd love that."

  "I don't want to watch five straight hours of Interns and Lovers," complained Melanie. "I want to watch what's going on while it's really happening."

  Christie rolled her eyes in disbelief. "What's going on in the lives of the people on Interns and Lovers isn't real, Mel. They're just characters someone dreamed up."

  "To me they're real," said Melanie, sticking out her lower lip. "The characters seem like friends." She turned to Katie. "Why does your mother want to get involved, anyway?"

  "Right," said Beth. "Why does she care if kids watch a lot of TV?"

  "She says television is an addiction that keeps people from living in the real world," Katie replied.

  "See, Melanie." Jana laughed. "You're an addict."

  Melanie stuck her tongue out at Jana. "I am not an addict. Watching television is a great American pastime. Besides, I'm not the only one who watches TV. You guys all do, too."

  "I don't watch that much television," declared Jana proudly.

  "Me, either," said Christie. "And I think your mother's right. People do watch too much TV."

  "When I called your house last weekend you were watching television, too," said Katie.

  "That was different," protested Christie. "I needed to watch it for a school project. Does your mother disapprove of that, too?"

  Katie didn't know what to say. She was starting to get tired of defending her mother. Just then she noticed Laura McCall and her three best friends, Melissa McConnell, Tammy Lucero, and Funny Hawthorne, standing nearby. Laura called her clique The Fantastic Foursome, and they had been The Fabulous Five's biggest rivals since the beginning of the school year.

  "Who cares if more homes in America have TV sets than have toilets?" Laura was saying. She was pretending to talk to her friends, but she was speaking so loudly that Katie knew she was supposed to hear. The statement about TV sets and toilets was from Katie's mother's article.

  Katie moved in closer to Jana and tried to ignore Laura.

  "Personally I'm glad that I'll get to watch three hundred and fifty thousand commercials by the time I finish high school." Melissa's voice was sarcastic and just as loud as Laura's. "I just love commercials!"

  The four girls la
ughed as if Melissa had cracked a hilarious joke. Katie bristled.

  "Some people's mothers should mind their own business," said Tammy Lucero.

  Katie whirled around and started toward The Fantastic Foursome, but Jana reached out and grabbed her arm. "Cool it, Katie," she whispered. "You know they're just trying to get to you. If you go over there, you'll be playing right into their hands."

  "I don't care," Katie mumbled. "Tammy was talking about my mother." She pulled against Jana's hand.

  "Look, Katie. There's Tony," said Melanie.

  Katie looked around eagerly. Tony was standing near the first-floor escalator with Shane Arrington and Bill Soliday. Since the center of the mall served as the lobby of the theater, it was impossible to tell if the boys were planning to attend the movie or not.

  Just then Tony saw her and waved. Katie immediately waved back.

  "He's probably planning to sit with you," Melanie said.

  Katie glanced through the crowd again, but Tony was talking to Shane and Bill now. She had first met him when she was selected to be a judge on Wakeman's Teen Court. He had had to appear before the court because of the earring he wore to school. At first she had thought he was totally macho and a troublemaker, but she had gradually come to see he wasn't that way at all.

  Looking back at Melanie, she smiled and said, "I hope so."

  As the crowd near the ticket booth grew, Katie lost sight of Tony.

  "We'd better go in if we're going to get popcorn before the movie starts," said Beth, looking at her watch.

  "Good idea," Katie agreed. "Tony can find me inside if he wants to."

  Once The Fabulous Five were in their seats, Katie kept her eyes on the entrance, watching for Tony and his friends. That way, she reasoned, she could make sure he found her. Lots of Wacko kids came in. Some of them noticed her and waved. But when the lights dimmed, Tony and his friends still hadn't come into the theater. Where could they be? she wondered.

  As the movie started, Katie sat on her legs to make herself taller as she scanned the faces in the darkened theater.