Free Katie Friedman Gives Up Texting! by Tommy Greenwald Page B

can thank whatever her name is,” he said, “because I think it’s pretty cool. And if it means we get to hang with you a bit more, well then, I’m all for that, too.”
    â€œCool,” I said. “Can I see the remote?”
    â€œOf course, honey,” said my mom, handing it to me.
    I turned the sound back on just in time to see the dad eating his dinner with a pitchfork.
    My dad rolled his eyes. “Seriously?”
    â€œYes, seriously,” I said.
    He harrumphed. “Fine, but only because this is a special occasion.”
    By the end of the episode, both my parents were hooked.

 
    27
    THE NEXT LETTER
    Dear Jane,
    I hope you’re doing great!
    I was so honored to meet you the other day, and was so inspired by your words. In fact, I wanted you to know that it’s happening! I found ten friends, and together we’ve all decided to give up our cell phones for a whole week. We started today and will go all the way to our school talent show, which is this Saturday. Technically that’s only six days, but I hope that’s okay. We want to make a big announcement at the talent show and show everybody that we did it!
    I am also working on the song and will send it to you as soon as it’s done.
    Thank you for trusting me. I promise to stick to my end of the bargain! I won’t let you down.
    Â 
    Your absolutely biggest fan ever,
    Â 
    Katie Friedman

 
    28
    WRITING A SONG IS HARD, BUT MAKING A PHONE CALL IS HARDER
    After Daughter Of The Devil , and after ice cream, and after playing with the dog, and after trying to play charades but realizing it’s hard with three people, and after playing War instead, and after finishing my homework, and after writing a letter to Jane, and after doing everything possible that doesn’t involve a cell phone and a computer, I got out my guitar and tried to write music for my song, “How.”
    It turns out writing music for a song is really, really hard.
    It doesn’t seem like it should be that hard to put a melody to a few words.
    How do you
    Speak the words
    That you never thought would be spoken?
    How do you
    Break the heart
    That never has been broken?
    Pretty soon, I’d written a new verse:
    How do you write a song
    If you’ve never written one before?
    How do you write a melody
    That doesn’t sound like nails on a chalkboard?
    After about twenty minutes, I threw my guitar on my bed in disgust and reached for my phone to text Becca.
    Except my phone wasn’t there.
    Ack!
    Okay, fine. I’d call her.
    Except my phone wasn’t there.
    Ack again!
    I raced down the stairs.
    â€œMom? I need help!”
    My mom was in the kitchen, making chicken soup from the leftover chicken. It smelled amazing.
    â€œWhat’s up?”
    â€œI need to talk to Becca, but I don’t have my phone, and she doesn’t have her phone.”
    She stirred her soup. “Well, okay, so use our home phone. Do you know her number?”
    â€œOf course I don’t know her number! I don’t even know how to FIND her number!”
    My mom smiled. “Well, there are these things called phone books. You can use that.”
    â€œWhere is it?”
    â€œGood question.” She rifled through a few drawers, looked in a few cabinets, then finally pulled out a tattered old book that looked like it was found in a Dumpster somewhere. “Here ya go!”
    I picked it up. It was heavy. Who were all these people? I started thumbing through the pages—the print was tiny! After about two minutes, I finally found it: Clausen, 79 Sniffen Road (203) 555-0157.
    Now all I had to do was find our phone.
    I hadn’t used it in about two years. Except for when Jane called me a few days before. Yeah, there was that .
    I went to the place where it was supposed to be, and the receiver part was still there, but no phone.
    â€œHas anyone seen the phone?”
    They shrugged.
    â€œDon’t you guys know where it