Fabulous Five 024 - The Great TV Turnoff

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.

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ISBN 0-553-15861-9

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CWO      0 9 8 7 6 5
4 3 2 1

For Susan Johnasen
Smith

"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 Katie
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.

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 laughed 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.

"Katie! Sit down," Taffy Sinclair whispered
angrily. She was sitting in the row behind The Fabulous Five with Cory Dillon.

"Yes,
please
," said Shawnie Pendergast, who
was seated next to them with her new boyfriend, Craig Meachem. "We can't
see."

Katie slouched down in her seat. Next she tried peeking
between people's heads, but every time she turned around, Taffy and Shawnie
frowned at her.

Maybe the boys came in late, she thought, and they sat in
the back because they didn't want to trample on people's feet. Probably he'll
be waiting for me in the mall when the movie's over, she decided. The idea made
her feel better, and she settled back to watch the movie.

Katie looked around the lobby expectantly as the movie let
out. She couldn't help feeling depressed as she scanned the crowded mall. Tony
was nowhere to be seen.

"Come on, guys," said Jana. "Let's go to Taco
Plenty for a soda."

As they followed the crowd through the mall toward the
fast-food restaurant, the girls passed an electronic appliance store. Katie
glanced in and stopped in her tracks. There, sitting on the floor in the middle
of a semicircle of television sets all showing the same baseball game, sat
Tony, Shane, and Bill.