I Bet You Can’t
By Amy Cocina
........
A year without
television? What
a liar—nobody can
........ do that!
Miss Cocina lives in Hamburg, New York,
and attends the tenth grade at Hamburg Sr.
High School. She wrote and submitted her
story—a true story—while in the ninth
grade at Hamburg Jr. High School. In her
free time, Miss Cocina likes to swim, ski,
play tennis, run track, and draw pictures.
Especially fond of children, she frequently
babysits and is an aide for a Girl Scout
Brownie troop.
1 M E R LY N ’ S P E N M A G A Z I N E
“B
oy Goes One Year Without TV,” the headlines flashed. “Oh come
on,” I mocked as I stared at the kid’s shining face on the front page
of the newspaper. “What a liar. Nobody can do that. A year with-
out television for a measly hundred dollars? What a moron.” I tossed the
newspaper on the floor and snapped on the tube. My favorite Disney car-
toon! I nestled myself into a cozy corner of the couch.
“Amy, turn that thing off!” my mom bellowed as she walked by.
“Your three hours are up. You can’t watch any more television tonight.” I
glanced at her and rolled my eyes. “Amy! Get off that couch and go read
a book!”
Annoyed, I pushed myself up. “I think I’ll call Jessica,” I mum-
bled, heading for the phone.
“Now go.”
“No, you’ll go read a book.”
“Aw, Mom, I hate reading!”
“And I hate looking at report cards full of D’s,” she sputtered.
I stuck out my tongue at her retreating back and picked up the
paper I had thrown on the floor. The boy stared at me with mocking eyes.
“Geek!” I whispered to him. And then . . . he laughed at me! Horrified, I
dropped the paper. The geek was alive! I could even hear his high-pitched
giggle!
“I did it, bet you can’t! I did it, bet you can’t!” he chanted. I
glared at the boy’s picture. Was he alive? I ran into the kitchen. My imag-
ination had run wild (or gone haywire. Maybe I’d been watching too
much television!?).
“Mom, I want to make you a bet.” I panted. “If I can go a whole
year without TV, will you give me one hundred bucks?”
“You saw that boy in the newspaper, didn’t you, honey?”
“Uh, yeah, you could say that,” I cautiously replied.
“Well, if you really think you can do it . . . ”
All the while his voice kept mocking, “Bet you can’t do it! Bet
you can’t do it!” The sickening singsong just wouldn’t quit! And for some
reason, I felt that if I didn’t do it, that snotty little kid would be haunting
me for the rest of my life. Shows what a bat-brain I was. “Of course I can
do it, Mom,” I replied, trying to convince myself.
She eyed me suspiciously; I was always up to something. “Well,
okay, but if you don’t make it, you won’t get a dime,” she replied, know-
ing full well that I never finished anything I started. This time would be
different.
A P R I L / M AY 1 9 9 3
 “I can do it, Mom,” I repeated. So that’s how
it all started, from my fear of a picture in the newspa-
per. My screen went blank. The year had begun.
“Amy, you’re nuts!” my best friend Jessica gig-
gled incredulously. “You watch more TV than anyone
I know!” I wasn’t amused. A week had passed without
TV and I was stuck in a depression. “I’m serious about
this, Jess,” I replied quietly.
because I could remember all the information. Eureka!
It was like a revelation! I went from being a D student
to an A student within a couple of weeks. My parents
and teachers were astounded.
My mom finally got me to read. I used to hate
reading if there were no pictures. What fun was that?
But after a couple of her bribes and threats, I began to
read and enjoy it. It was great for my overactive imag-

..............
She opened the door to McDonald’s. “You

“I hate looking at report cards

full of D’s,” she sputtered. “Now
ination; now I could make up all the pictures just the
way I wanted them—my own little TV, right inside my
head! Thrilling! I guess that’s why I now prefer read-
ing to television.
With my imagination running at full tilt and
plenty of hours to spare, I also improved my artwork. I

..............
turn that thing off!”

really are, aren’t you?”

have always loved to paint and draw and, since I need-
ed activities to keep me busy, I took art lessons. My
work improved so much that once I even admitted to
liking one of my pieces. That’s pretty good for me
because I’m very critical of my work. I also won second
“Yes, I am. No television or movies. I’m actu- place at the Hamburg Art Festival. I was so proud of
ally going to do this.” myself.
“Well, I’m behind you,” she pledged, punch- I guess I sound like I turned into a goody two-
ing my arm. “Don’t worry. I’ll help you. I know this shoes or something, and maybe I did, but I also know
will be hard; you never stick to anything!” that I transformed myself from a stupid little nobody
“I know it,” I mumbled. into a self-motivated, independent person who now
Jess and I spent a lot of time together that knows that she can be anything she wants to be. I’m
year. Every day in school she’d encourage me anew, proud of what I did. I earned a lot more from the expe-
and when we had time off, we would go places on our rience than just the one hundred dollars!
bikes or stay at home and do things. I think my strug- By the way—that kid in the newspaper hasn’t
gle helped her as much as it helped me. We had a great bothered me since. I just wish I could thank him.
time!
I did a lot of other things too that year. For
example, my dad taught me to ski, which became my
favorite sport. Many frigid, winter afternoons I went
sledding, and snowball wars with my neighbors offered
daily drama. Other days I’d visit my friends, or go to
the mall. In summer I swam as much as a fish, and
many times I hiked in the woods—still my favorite
thing to do. Almost every week I went on a bike trek
with my friends and always had a fun time.
It was unbelievable how much fun I had with-
out TV. I learned so many new games and activities, I
am still amazed after three years. I could hardly believe
how exciting my life had become without the good old
boob tube. I guess the biggest thing I learned, though,
was self-motivation.
I started to do my homework, which was a
major bummer at first, but it really paid off. I never
understood the concept of homework before, but after
I started doing it, I did much better on my tests

2 M E R LY N ’ S P E N M A G A Z I N E A P R I L / M AY 1 9 9 3