diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 94bc20a..e22a353 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 token
+*.pyc
 *.sw*
diff --git a/slack/__init__.py b/slack/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..03f7ae3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/slack/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#
+# Copyright 2015 (c) Anna Schumaker
+#
+
+from . import api
diff --git a/slack/api.py b/slack/api.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d99be24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/slack/api.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#
+# Copyright 2015 (c) Anna Schumaker
+#
+import json
+from urllib import request
+
+__SLACK_SERVER = "https://slack.com/api"
+
+def call(method, **kwargs):
+    args = "&&".join("%s=%s" % x for x in kwargs.items())
+    with request.urlopen("%s/%s?%s" % (__SLACK_SERVER, method, args)) as req:
+        return json.loads(req.read().decode())
+    return {"ok" : False}
+
+
+def test():
+    return call("api.test")["ok"]
diff --git a/slackmail.py b/slackmail.py
index 3bb4244..40d4e85 100644
--- a/slackmail.py
+++ b/slackmail.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/python
 # Copyright 2015 (c) Anna Schumaker.
 
+import slack
 import json
 import os
 import sys
@@ -35,7 +36,8 @@ def call_method_auth(method, args = dict()):
 #
 # Test connection before doing anything else
 #
-if call_method("api.test")["ok"] == False:
+if slack.api.test() == False:
+    print("Connection error!")
     sys.exit(1)
 auth = call_method_auth("auth.test")
 if auth["ok"] == False: