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No
TV for a Week©
By
Sunray Clewis
Jackie Gauntly is
about to live a whole week without television. |
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“Miss
Gauntly, are you listening to a word I’m saying?” my homeroom
teacher, Mr. O’Connor asked me. “Oh,
uh, yes,” I told him. He
narrowed his eyes at me knowing that I wasn’t telling the truth. “OK,
then, what did I say?” he asked knowing that I wouldn’t have the
slightest idea what he was saying. Some
kids in my class started giggling. “That…
you-“ I got interrupted. “That
this Sunday starts “No TV for a Week, week,” Mr. O’Connor finished
for me. He doesn’t like
to see us get in trouble. “Yeah,
that was what I was going to say,” I lied. Mr.
O’Connor smiled and said, “OK, class!” Mr. O’Connor said, “So
this week I am hoping that all of you will find something else to do at
home other than watch TV. If
you do last a week TV-less, then you win a prize.” Andy, a
bully at our school, jumped out of his seat and said, “yeah, well what
if I just say that I didn’t watch TV and I really did watch
TV?” Mr. O’Connor thought for a moment. “Well,” he said, “I am hoping that no one does do that,
but to win the prize, your parent has to sign a paper stating that you
actually didn’t watch TV all week and they have to sign it.” Andy
muttered something under his breath, but I couldn’t hear what he said.
The bell rang, so everyone made a beeline for the door.
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On
Sunday, I got out of bed to watch my show, “The Powderpuff Girls,” but my
mom had put the TV away in the closet. “Mom,
what are you doing?” I asked her. “This
week is No TV for a Week, week, so I’m putting the TV away so we don’t get
tempted,” my mom answered. “Oh
yeah,” I said, “I forgot about that. I
wonder what the prize is.” So Sunday I didn’t watch any TV. I kept myself busy all week. Sunday, I went to my friend, Amy’s house. Monday
I went to the arcade with a group of kids that I knew from school. Tuesday,
it was really hot, so after school, I went to the pool. On
Wednesday, I ran out of ideas to keep me busy. There
was a movie on TV that I really wanted to see. Oh
well, I thought, there are other times it will be on again. Thursday, I had a dentist appointment, so that took care of
Thursday. On Friday, I couldn’t
take it anymore. When I got home
from school, I ran to the closet, pulled the TV out, and I went to go plug it
in, when my mom walked into the room. “Jackie,
no! Don’t do it! You have only one day left and you can watch TV again.” I
looked at my mom and said, “I need to watch TV again, mom! I’m going crazy!” my mom persuaded me as much as she
could. “Now, Jackie, what if we
went to the mall? How about
that?” she said. So we went to
the mall. I’m glad we did go,
because I got to bond with my mom, and they had a sale in one of my favorite
stores. On Saturday, I was so
excited. My mom signed the paper
stating that I didn’t watch TV for a whole week. The
next day, in homeroom, Mr. O’Connor gave everyone, that had a note signed by
his or her parents, a STICKER!!!!! Why a sticker? Why not a gift certificate to an ice cream shop or something? A
sticker??? It was a really lame sticker too. It had a picture of a TV circled and crossed out. Beneath
the picture, it said, “I was TV free for a whole week!” I mean, what are
we, kindergartners? When I got
home, I showed my mom my “prize”. “Oh,
sweetheart, I’m sorry that your reward was something so simple. I’ll
make it up to you. Want to go to
the movies? My treat.” So we
went to the movies. “You know,
mom, I told her, “I think I could probably last another week without
television.” My mom laughed and said, “Yeah, right! You
couldn’t even last another day without TV.” Guess what? She
was right.
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