Fabulous Five 024 - The Great TV Turnoff (5 page)

"How did your weekend go, class?" asked Mrs. Clark
that day. "Did any of you have trouble finding things to do instead of
watching television?"

"I counted the money I've been saving for a trip to
Disney World and read two books," said Melinda Thaler.

"Some of us guys made rockets," said Scott Daly. "Then
I tried to see how many push-ups I could do. I got up to seventy-five."

"Very good," said Mrs. Clark.

"I wrote on my little brother's feet and stomach,"
bragged Joel Murphy. He looked around impishly when a chorus of laughter filled
the air.

"You what?" asked Mrs. Clark, looking surprised.

"Well, actually I copied the Declaration of
Independence on him. I just wanted to see if I could do it. It looked really
neat."

"I'm sure it did," said the teacher, shaking her
head.

"He didn't like it when I held him down, though, and he
started crying. My mom got mad and turned on the television to keep him quiet."

Whitney Larkin frowned at Joel and raised her hand. "Curtis
Trowbridge and I went to the library and checked out a bunch of books. We read
the whole weekend."

"Very commendable," said Mrs. Clark. "What
about you, Geena?"

"I wasn't crazy about the turnoff, but I signed up.
Then my brothers had the television on all weekend. I tried not to watch, but
it wasn't easy."

"Good for you for trying," said Mrs. Clark.

Others said they had found things to do with their friends
and with their families. A few admitted to sneaking a peek at television.

Katie didn't think it sounded as if the turnoff was going
too badly for some kids. At least the news was a little encouraging.

"I saw Laura and Tammy talking to Lisa Snow,"
reported Mandy. "I talked to Lisa later, and she said she was definitely
considering breaking her contract." Mandy and Alexis were sitting with The
Fabulous Five at Bumpers after school, giving their spy reports.

Turning to Alexis, Katie said, "What did you find out?"

"I saw Melissa talking to Mona Vaughn and Matt Zeboski,"
said Alexis. "I couldn't tell for sure, but I think it was about the
turnoff."

"Darn," said Katie. "She's already talking
some kids into watching television, and this is just the beginning of the first
week. By the end of next week she may have everyone breaking the contract, and
then the whole turnoff will fall apart."

"Hey, guys. Listen to this," cried Dekeisha as she
pushed her way through the crowd and sank breathlessly into The Fabulous Five's
booth. "You'll never guess what The Fantastic Foursome is up to now."

"What?" asked Christie.

Dekeisha caught her breath and leaned forward. "Laura
and her friends are saying that they'll watch programs for anybody who'll pay
them fifty cents an hour. They say that they'll write down everything that
happens on the show and bring the report to school the next day."

"That's cheating," Katie blurted out. "That
way kids could keep their contracts and still know what's happening on their
favorite shows right away instead of waiting to see the tapes they've made on
their VCRs."

"Exactly," said Dekeisha. "That's what Laura
is counting on."

"Right." Jana nodded. "And I'll bet she's
also planning to secretly let Mr. Bell know who is cheating."

"And if she gets enough kids to cheat, the turnoff will
be a failure," said Dekeisha.

"That jerk," said Katie. "I just hope nobody
takes her up on it."

"Ha!" scoffed Dekeisha. "That's the rest of
the news. She was passing around a sign-up sheet in science class, and half the
kids in class were signing up."

Katie sank back against the booth, folding her arms across
her chest. It made her furious that Laura was trying so hard to wreck the
turnoff. But it made her even angrier that so many kids were going along with
it.

The crowd in Bumpers began to thin. Dekeisha left with Mandy
and Alexis, leaving The Fabulous Five alone with their gloom.

Suddenly, Jana sat up straight. "Don't look now, but you-know-who
is coming this way."

Katie turned to see The Fantastic Foursome approaching.

"Well, how's the great reformer?" Laura asked in a
sarcastic voice. She was looking straight at Katie. "Have you come up with
any more great ideas like the TV turnoff? I hear there are lots of kids who
aren't going along with it."

"Only because you and your friends are trying to talk
people into watching television," said Katie.

"That's not totally true," replied Laura sweetly. "A
lot of them only went along with the turnoff in the first place because your
mother got Mr. Bell to make such a big deal of it. Who cares if the Branford
kids didn't watch TV? Big deal."

"Well, it
is
a big deal to beat Branford,"
said Beth defensively.

"I also heard that you're trying something really low
and sneaky to get kids to cheat on their contracts. You'll never get away with
it."

Laura ignored Katie. Instead she turned to Melanie. "I
hear you like to watch
Interns and Lovers
, Melanie. Did you watch it
Friday after school?"

"Of course not!" said Melanie proudly.

"Then you probably don't know that Sylvia almost died,
do you?" asked Laura.

"She did?" Laura had Melanie's complete attention.

"Yes, she did. Cal and the other doctors did everything
they could to save her. I can't tell you how dramatic it was. It looks as if
she's
really
going to die this time. She's unconscious again. When the
show ended, Cal was sitting next to Sylvia's bed holding her hand, and tears
were running down his cheeks."

"Wow! Poor Cal," whispered Melanie.

"I know you signed a contract to turn off your TV,"
Laura said.

She was looking at Melanie sympathetically, and to Katie's
horror, Melanie was looking back at her, misery showing plainly in her eyes.

"Why don't you let me watch my tape of
Interns and
Lovers
for you this evening?" Laura asked. "I'm going to, anyway.
I can't stand to wait another day to find out if she regains consciousness. I'll
call you afterward and tell you what happened. It will only cost you fifty
cents."

Melanie glared at Laura. "
That's a dirty trick
,
Laura
McCall!
No, I will not pay you to watch
Interns and Lovers.
Nothing
you can say will make me cheat."

"Suit yourself." Laura flashed a sly grin. "But
stay tuned. I may give you an update on how Sylvia's doing, anyway. And then
again . . . maybe I won't," she said with a confident look. She raised an
eyebrow at Katie.

"You'd better stay tuned, too, Katie Shannon."
With a flip of her braid, Laura walked off.

Katie couldn't get Laura off her mind all evening. No matter
how hard she tried to concentrate on her homework, she kept thinking of The
Fantastic Foursome and their trick to get people to cheat.

Midway through the evening Willie knocked on Katie's door. "Can
I come in?"

"Sure, Mom."

"How's the turnoff going?" asked Willie.

Katie shrugged. "Okay, I guess."

"Come on. Tell me what you really think, sweetheart,"
Willie insisted. "To hear Mr. Bell tell it, it couldn't be more perfect,
but I know better than that. What's going on in the trenches?"

Katie smiled at her mother. "There are some problems,"
she admitted. "For one thing, Laura McCall is trying to get kids to cheat
on their contracts by offering to watch TV for them if they pay her."

"She is!" said Willie in amazement. "Why?"

Katie hesitated. "Mostly because I'm for the turnoff,
and . . . because you're helping Mr. Bell with it, and you're my mother."

Willie sat quietly for a moment. Then she reached out and
put her arm around Katie. "I'm sorry, honey. I wish I could do something
to help. There are always going to be people in the world we can't get along
with, I guess. Sometimes there's no explaining why."

"I know." Katie sounded dejected. "And
another thing, Lisa Snow told me that she was having trouble sticking with the
turnoff at home because her parents like to watch television. Her father doesn't
want to give up his news, and her mother has programs she doesn't want to miss,
either. And Lisa's not the only one with that problem. Some of the kids with
little brothers and sisters say their parents won't turn off the cartoon shows
because it keeps the kids entertained."

"That's
exactly
the problem with television!"
Willie said angrily. "Parents stick their kids in front of the TV because
it's easier than helping them find constructive things to do. Things that will
teach them to think. Now
that's
something I can do something about!"

Willie marched to the door with her hands on her hips. "I've
got another article to write."

"You should have tasted the double-fudge chocolate cake
I made last night instead of watching TV, Katie," said Melinda Thaler.
Katie was standing by the fence with a group of girls the next morning waiting
for school to start. "It was absolutely colossal. I think I may become a
gourmet cook. Tonight I'm going to dig through all my mother's cookbooks and
copy down the best-sounding recipes."

"Well, I started something I've always wanted to do,"
said Heather Clark. "I'm writing a book. It's really going to be great. It's
about this thirteen-year-old girl whose name is Heidi Clay. She's simply
gorgeous, and she goes to this school called Wakefield Junior High. All the
boys in her school are madly in love with her."

"The names sound just a little bit familiar,"
laughed Marcie Bee. "Heidi Clay and Heather Clark. Wakefield Junior High
and Wakeman Junior High. Shouldn't you change them more to protect the guilty?"

"I couldn't find
anything
to do,"
complained Sara Sawyer. "I was bored out of my gourd."

"Did you try getting your family to play some kind of
game?" asked Katie. "Like Pictionary or Monopoly?"

Sara shook her head. "I tried, but no one was
interested. My dad worked on an antique car he's had sitting in the garage for
ages, and my mother decided to take up quilting. My brothers played basketball
most of the time. Instead of our doing things together, we were doing them
separately."

"There's nothing wrong with that," said Christie. "You
just have to find something to do that interests you."

"But I don't like to cook or write like Melinda and
Heather do."

"What about reading or organizing your room?"
asked Jana. "I've got my room in such good shape, my mother didn't
recognize it."

"I don't like to read, and I consider cleaning my room
punishment
,
"
Sara said, folding her arms across her chest.

"I'm having trouble finding things to do, too,"
said Mona Vaughn.

A warning signal flashed through Katie's brain. More and
more of her friends were getting discouraged with the turnoff. Now that Laura
was offering to help kids cheat, pretty soon the TV turnoff would be a complete
failure. Katie could just imagine Laura and her friends laughing at Katie and
her mother.

She worried about it all day and set aside her homework that
evening to make a list of things her classmates could do instead of watching TV.

1. Talk on the phone with your friends.

That should interest lots of girls, but their parents will
probably throw a fit, she thought, and chuckled.

2. Tie-dye a T-shirt or anything made of cotton, even a
pair of socks.
3. Decorate a pair of sneakers with paint, glitter glue, or beads.
4. Get your friends together and make each other friendship bracelets woven
with embroidery thread.
5. Snap pictures of your friends. Take some goofy shots and some serious
ones, then make a collage of your favorites to hang on your bedroom wall.
6. Borrow your parents' camcorder and make a movie starring your friends. Of
course you won't be able to watch it until the turnoff is over.

Katie glanced down at her list, surprised at how fast it was
growing. Still, there was something missing. She read the list again and
realized that every activity she had thought of so far would appeal mostly to
girls. She hadn't thought of a single thing especially for boys to do. Of
course there were sports, but there had to be more than that.

She was still thinking this over when she heard the phone
ring.

"Katie," Willie called from downstairs. "It's
Jana."

Katie hurried downstairs and picked up the phone. "Hi,
Jana. What's up?"

"Trouble," said Jana. "You're not going to
believe this, but I just talked to Randy, and he said that Laura McCall is
having a party Saturday night. A
television
party!"

"What?" exclaimed Katie. "What do you mean, a
television party?"

"According to Randy, Laura is telling everybody that
her dad is going to put three or four television sets in their living room and
family room, and she's going to have tons of food and soda, plus video games."

Katie was too stunned to speak for a moment. This was bound
to mean the end of the turnoff. Too many kids were threatening to break their
contracts anyway, and a big party at Laura's would be the only excuse they
needed.

"How did Randy find out about it?" asked Katie. "Did
Laura invite him?"

"You bet she did," Jana answered angrily. "She
and her friends have been on the phone all evening calling kids and inviting
them to her party. Randy told her he wouldn't go."

"They wouldn't have the nerve to call any of The
Fabulous Five," said Katie.

"No, just our boyfriends," said Jana.

Katie winced. There was no doubt that Laura would invite
Tony. But would he go?

"We're going to have to talk to all the people we can
in the morning," Jana continued, "and try to keep them from going to
Laura's party."

"Right," said Katie, sounding more confident than
she felt.

The next morning Katie hurried into the building the moment
she got to school and posted her list on the bulletin board. Outside again she
saw Jana talking to Mona just inside the Wakeman fence. Katie stopped a few
feet away and waited until they finished their conversation. Then she hurried
over to Jana. "What did she say? Did Laura invite her to the party?"

Jana nodded. "She asked Mona and Matt both. Mona doesn't
want to, but Matt does. He thinks having four television sets going at once
would be a ball. Mona said she's sorry, but if she can't talk Matt out of
going, she's going, too."

"Great," Katie muttered.

The rest of The Fabulous Five were already waiting at their
meeting spot, and they had all heard about Laura's party.

"What are we going to do?" asked Melanie. "We
can't let her get away with this."

"I don't know," confessed Katie. "She's going
to be hard to stop this time."

"
Everybody's
talking about Laura's party,"
said Christie, sliding her hot-lunch tray onto the table and sitting down
beside Jana in the cafeteria at noon.

"I know," said Melanie. "Brian Olsen must
have told me four times that he's going."

"Is Shane going?" Beth asked Melanie.

She shrugged. "I haven't talked to him today."

"Now's your chance," said Jana. "He's over by
the steam tables talking with Keith. Maybe you can find out if Laura has asked
him."

"Good idea," said Melanie, jumping up and heading
in his direction.

She was back in a couple of minutes, smiling broadly. "Shane
isn't going to Laura's party. He wants to be one of the people who goes the
whole two weeks without watching television. He says he loves the challenge."

"Did Keith say anything about the party?" asked
Beth.

Melanie shook her head.

Katie glanced at Tony. He had finished his lunch and was
heading out the cafeteria door. She was positive now that Laura would invite
him, if she hadn't already. And she was almost as positive that he would go
because he was mad at her. Just then a horrible thought occurred to her. Maybe
that was what Laura had meant at Bumpers when she had told Katie to "stay
tuned." Maybe Tony had already said yes.

She sighed and turned her attention back to her friends.

"You look great today, Beth," Jana was saying. "But
aren't you a little dressed up for school? That's the outfit you wore for the
first Media Club broadcast, isn't it?"

Beth nodded. "Today is my interview with Jack Albright.
Mr. Levine is taking the Media Club down to the television station for the
taping right after school. Jon Smith gets to operate the camera, and Tim Riggs
is going to be the director. The rest of the club members are going to help out
however they can."

"Lucky you," said Melanie. "I watch Jack
Albright on
Taking Chances
all the time. Whoops!" she said, gulping
back a giggle. "I meant I
used
to watch it all the time. Before the
turnoff."

"I am lucky," agreed Beth, "but it's torture
for me not to be able to see the tape of the interview for a week and a half. I
don't know about this turnoff," she added, looking dejected.

Katie nodded sympathetically, trying to give Beth some extra
encouragement.

Jana looked puzzled. "What I don't understand is why
the Media Club is going ahead with its Saturday morning cable TV show if nobody's
supposed to watch TV? Why doesn't the club just wait to broadcast the show
after the turnoff is over?"

"Don't forget," said Beth. "The turnoff is
voluntary. Some kids will watch the show, and how could we ever reschedule an
interview with a superstar? Besides, Mr. Levine said that we'd lose our
Saturday morning slot with the cable station if we didn't produce shows for two
weeks."

Gloom hung over the table for a few minutes until Jana
asked, "How's your diary coming, Melanie? Have you come up with any more
episodes for
Interns and Lovers
?
"

Melanie's face brightened. "Oh, yes! Now that Sylvia
has regained consciousness, she has to learn to walk all over again. And guess
who's helping her?"

"Don't tell us. Let us guess," said Christie,
winking at the others. "Could it possibly be Cal?"

Melanie gave Christie a disgusted look. "Of course it's
Cal. And when he held her for the first time and guided her down the hospital
corridor, he promised her that as soon as she was well again, he'd take her
back to the amusement park where they met. It was so romantic that I cried."

"I don't know why you bother to watch soaps when you
can write your own," said Katie.

"I love doing it," Melanie admitted. "I
wonder how close I'll be to what's happening on the show."

Suddenly Katie sat upright. "I think I may have an idea
about how to keep kids from Laura's party," she said. "What do you
think about trying to get a bunch of kids to take a bike ride Saturday to the
amusement park? Melanie's soap opera story gave me the idea. We could bike out
to Adventureland in the afternoon and get everyone to meet later at Mama Mia's
for pizza."

"That's not bad," said Beth, nodding thoughtfully.
"As a matter of fact, I think it's a very good idea."

"I'll bet a lot of kids would like to go," Jana
agreed.

"And if they went to Adventureland and then to Mama Mia's,
there wouldn't be time to go to Laura's party," Christie said gleefully. "We
could ask people like Lisa and Mona and Matt and Brian."

"And Shelly Bramlett and Geena McNatt," said Jana.

"And the boys who like to watch baseball," added
Katie. "We've got to ask them."

"What you really mean is we need to ask Tony, don't
you, Katie?" Jana asked gently.

Katie sighed and nodded. She missed Tony a lot.

"I'll talk to Randy about going to the park," said
Jana. "I'll hint to him that it would be nice if he'd ask Tony to come,
too."

"Do you think he'll come?" asked Katie. "You
said Tony was really mad at me."

Jana shrugged. "All we can do is try."

"I'll talk to Keith," said Beth. "Maybe if
all the other guys are going, Tony will want to go, too."

"And I'll talk to Shane," offered Melanie.

"Thanks," said Katie. "You guys are super
friends."

"We're The Fabulous Five," said Jana, grabbing her
friend's hand and squeezing it.