big job t'morra
night an' I'm man short, 'count o' havin' to have a 'nouncer.'"

"A what?"

"Fanny talk jes' that way. Goin' be big dinnuh-potty, an' thishere
blue-vein fam'ly tell Fanny they want whole lot extry sploogin'; tell
her put fine-lookin' cullud man stan' by drawin'-room do'--ask ev'ybody
name an' holler out whatever name they say, jes' as they walk in.
Thishere fam'ly say they goin' show what's what, 'nis town, an' they
boun' Fanny go git 'em a 'nouncer. 'Well, what's mattuh YOU doin' 'at
'nouncin'?' Fanny say. 'Who--me?' I tell her. 'Yes, you kin, too!' she
say, an' she say she len' me 'at waituh suit yoosta b'long ole Henry
Gimlet what die' when he owin' Fanny sixteen dolluhs--an' Fanny tuck
an' keep 'at waituh suit. She use 'at suit on extry waituhs when she got
some on her hands what 'ain't got no waituh suit. 'You wear 'at suit,'
Fanny say, 'an' you be good 'nouncer, 'cause you' a fine, big man, an'
got a big, gran' voice; 'nen you learn befo' long be a waituh, Genesis,
an' git dolluh an' half ev'y even' you waitin ', 'sides all 'at money
you make cuttin' grass daytime.' Well, suh, I'z stan' up doin' 'at
'nouncin' ve'y nex' night. White lady an' ge'lmun walk todes my do', I
step up to 'em--I step up to 'em thisaway."

Here Genesis found it pleasant to present the scene with some
elaboration. He dropped the handle of the freezer, rose, assumed a
stately, but ingratiating, expression, and "stepped up" to the imagined
couple, using a pacing and rhythmic gait--a conservative prance, which
plainly indicated the simultaneous operation of an orchestra. Then
bending graciously, as though the persons addressed were of dwarfish
stature, "'Scuse me," he said, "but kin I please be so p'lite as to
'quiah you' name?" For a moment he listened attentively, then nodded,
and, returning with the same aristocratic undulations to an imaginary
doorway near the freezer, "Misto an' Missuz Orlosko Rinktum!" he
proclaimed, sonorously.

"WHO?" cried Jane, fascinated. "Genesis, 'nounce that again, right
away!"

Genesis heartily complied.

"Misto an' Missuz Orlosko Rinktum!" he bawled.

"Was that really their names?" she asked, eagerly.

"Well, I kine o' fergit," Genesis admitted, resuming his work with the
freezer. "Seem like I rickalect SOMEBODY got name good deal like what I
say, 'cause some mighty blue-vein names at 'at dinnuh-potty, yessuh! But
I on'y git to be 'nouncer one time, 'cause Fanny tellin' me nex' fam'ly