“That’s all right. I reckon I might come up with a story. I could tell one about when I was an organizer out in Colorado.”

I looked at Ben, who raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

“What’s an organizer?” Luke asked.

“That’s somebody that gits other folks doing things together. Like when you and your buddies is outside and one says ‘Let’s go pick berries’ and figures out where to git the berries and how many buckets to take. That there is an organizer.

“Well sir, I went to Colorado to be an organizer. Colorado is one of them states away out west.”

“I heard tell of it in school,” Luke said. “They got big mountains.”

“And lots of dust,” Rondal said. “Anyway, I went to be an organizer with the coal miners. Only they is some rascals out in Colorado that cant stand an organizer. They cant bear to see folks get together. They are just plain mean and they want folks to be all spread out sos they can just pick them off, one by one.” He grabbed Luke by the collar. “Like that!” Luke jumped, then giggled.

“Like the booger man!” Jane exclaimed.

“That’s what they are,” Rondal said. “Booger men. They aint nothing they like better than to sink their teeth into a nice, juicy organizer for breakfast. Any how, I went to be an organizer in a town called Trinidad. Now aint that a pretty name? And you best believe I was keeping a sharp lookout for booger men.

“I went to organizing, and I was doing such a fine job that I knew the booger men would be after me before long. Sure enough, one day I was in my hotel room, just minding my own business, when I heard a automobile drive up outside my window, and everything got real quiet down on that street. I looked out the window and what did I see but a whole car full of booger men—big ole fellers with green scabby skin and pointy teeth.”

“Yuck,” said Mabel.

“Next thing I knew them rascals was coming up the stairs to my room. Coming slow up the stairs. Thump. Thump. Thump.” He struck the tabletop with his fist. “Then I heard them outside my door breathing real heavy. ‘Organizer,’ they said. ‘Organizer. We know you’re in there.’ ‘That’s right,’ I answered. ‘You come to git me?’ ‘We’re going to bite off your toes and suck out all your blood,’ they said.

“‘Well now,’ I says, ‘that’s all right. But before you do, I got one last request.’ ‘What’s that?’ they say. ‘Seeing how they aint nothing I’d rather do than organize, I’d like to organize one more time before you suck my blood.’

“I could hear them snickering on the other side of that door. ‘Aint nobody here to organize but us,’ one said. ‘You’ll do just fine,’ I replied.

“They just hollered laughing when they heard that. ‘How you going to organize us? One thing you can say about us booger men, we are already organized.’