Free Fabulous Five 024 - The Great TV Turnoff by Betsy Haynes Page B

television.
    "Oh, nothing special happened, really," Katie
said.
    Beth stared at Katie in disbelief. "You're kidding!
That's all you have to say about the last two weeks?"
    Katie shrugged.
    Beth shook her head. "Kill that, Jon," she said. "We'll
find someone else to interview."
    Katie laughed and turned to Melanie. "Have you watched
any of your Interns and Lovers tapes, now that the turnoff is over?"
she asked.
    Melanie made a face. "Yes, and I almost died!"
    "Why?" asked Katie.
    "I watched last week's shows, and Sylvia was still in
intensive care, hooked up to all those machines. She hadn't even regained
consciousness! Then I checked the tapes for this week, too, and would you
believe, she's still in intensive care ? I ended up fast-forwarding
through most of it, and the only thing that really happened was that her
eyelids fluttered for the first time today." Melanie slapped her forehead.
"I didn't miss a thing by not watching for two weeks."
    "Well, at least you didn't pay Laura to watch the show
for you," said Jana.
    Melanie nodded.
    Just then the band played a fanfare. The lights brightened,
and Mr. Bell walked out onto the stage with Willie and Mrs. Karl. He held up
his hands for quiet.
    "Students of Wakeman Junior High," he began, "let
me first introduce two ladies who had a great deal to do with the success of
the Wakeman turnoff, Wilma Shannon and Mary Karl." The audience applauded.
    "If it had not been for Mrs. Karl's hard work and Mrs.
Shannon's research and her articles on the problems of watching too much
television, as well as her suggestion that Wakeman Junior High conduct a
turnoff of its own, we wouldn't be having this party tonight!" The
applause was even louder.
    Katie felt a swelling of pride as she looked at her mother
standing in the spotlight on the stage.
    "Let me get right to the thing I know you're waiting to
hear," said Mr. Bell, "the results of our competition with Branford
Junior High."
    There was a flurry of applause, and Mr. Bell smiled as he
waited for it to stop.
    "At the end of their one-week turnoff, sixty-four percent
of the Branford students had not watched television. At the end of Wakeman's two weeks, seventy-eight percent of you had not watched TV, which means that
Wakeman Junior High won!"
    A cheer went up from the audience, and kids slapped each
other's backs in congratulations. Katie beamed as Jana and Melanie hugged her.
    Katie looked up at her mother. When she caught Willie's eye,
she gave her a thumbs-up sign.
    "Now," continued Mr. Bell, "since we have so
many people who get certificates and awards, we've set up a table here on the
stage. At your convenience, please come up and get them from Mrs. Shannon and
Mrs. Karl. Thank you all, students. Congratulations, Wakeman Junior High! We're
proud of you."
    "Isn't it great?" said Christie, who had wandered
over with Beth, Dekeisha, and Mandy. "Wakeman won, and you had a lot to do
with it, Katie."
    " We all had a lot to do with it," said
Katie. "Every one of you helped." She squeezed Tony's hand.
    "One of the interesting things I found out as I
interviewed people this evening," said Beth, "is how much everyone
really enjoyed the turnoff. Lots of kids said they had a blast doing other
things. I would never have expected that in the beginning."
    A warm glow filled Katie as she realized just how worthwhile
the TV turnoff had been. People had liked doing other things besides watching
television, and they were paying more attention to each other ; which was
the most important thing of all.
    As the party drew to a close, Katie looked up at Tony and
asked, "What do you want to do for the rest of the evening?"
    "Well . . . the Sox are playing the Angels on TV, and I
thought we might . . ."
    Katie swung and hit him on the shoulder.
    Tony held up his hands in protest and grinned. "Hey, I'm
only kidding, Your Honor. I'm only kidding."

CHAPTER 14
    Christie finished the math test and skimmed back over the
questions. Her answers looked correct.