Undercover, We Are One.

—the follow speech was given by Wyatt Duvall to the most trusted members of the Slumber Party

“Undercover We Are One”

As many of you are aware, specifically those who have familiarized yourselves with the events of my childhood as detailed in It Began with a Lemonade Stand and a Bottle of Ipecac: The Childhood of Wyatt Duvall, my upbringing was a noticeable deviation from what has been defined as normal by the status quo, particular those who adhere to the Fisher-Price behavioral modification techniques established by most child-care experts and their pseudo-scientific kind.

It was during these formative years when I first began to investigate the various approaches that would form the basis for the techniques that have since become invaluable to the Slumber Party. Although I was many, many years away from developing a concrete methodology, I was constantly aware of my purpose in life and the means to which I would become the man I was destined to be. As such, I paid close attention to the behavior patterns of my family, knowing that much of who I was at the time and much of who I would become, would be influenced by them. Unlike most, whom I believe are shackled by familial conditioning and behavior modification, I knew that by remaining aware of the influences and situations that were being inflicted upon me, I could better see into the heart and soul of my Sleeping Self and learn when such conditioning was having a detrimental effect upon my dreams. For those of you who have yet to come to grips with the shackles and, I cannot stress this enough, the behavioral blessings of their upbringing, I encourage you to read the pamphlet entitled “The Reconditioned Child” for the scientifically proven and time-tested Slumber Party techniques which help you to free yourself from the behavioral constraints that keep you from being the Sleeping Self that you are destined to be and the behavioral gifts which will make it clear to you what your true Sleeping Self is. But remember this always: you must first uncover the Sleeping Self before you can ever slip under the covers with the Sleepwalker.

I knew that somehow we would all be together today — Undercover, Unknown, Unstoppable — although I must admit I did not know that it would be on such a grand and glorious scale and that I would have made so many valuable and trusted friends, or should I say, family along the way. I could see the beginnings of this Unity that we all have here today. A Unity of purpose. A Unity of thought. A Unity of our Sleeping Selves And I learned the vast majority of this from my family, and to them I am grateful.

Yes, I am grateful to my family, who, although not a poor one, was inclined to live as thriftily as possible. As you may know, a great deal of this had to do with the fact that my father and mother had been raised in the most derelict of circumstances. Imagine a house lit by oil lamps. Imagine a dinner table with no food. Imagine a Christmas tree with no presents. But despite the stuttered flicker of the flames, my parents learned to see in the shadows. Despite the lack of even the most meager of meals, my parents learned to subsist, to survive, to dine on the substance provided to them. And despite the lack of gifts, my parents learned to live on the gifts of the imagination, their dreams, that most powerful of mental exercises. At first they crawled out from the abyss of nothing, and they then stumbled, and then they proudly walked tall, until both were judged rightful and honorable successes by their peers and their colleagues. A bigger triumph of the Awakened Sleeping Self I cannot imagine. In fact, my own accomplishments pale in comparison. Yes, even I, Wyatt Duvall, am humbled by their achievements. I learned from them. And now I teach.

With all of that in mind, I would like to tell you how one particular practice of my parents shaped me and how even now it shapes each and every one of us who holds the Slumber Party near and dear in their hearts. As I mentioned, we were not poor, but we lived as such. Our meals were meager. Our material possessions were small. But our love for one another was great. Why? Because we were one. And perhaps we were never more unified than when we all went to bed at night.

At night, in the dark, we were together. We were loved. We were protected. We were one.

Unlike most parents, who choose to shuttle their children out of the bedroom, some even abandoning their offspring as soon as their infants are born to that prison we call a crib, in my house we were treated differently. In the home of my childhood, we all slept in the same bed. And when you and your family all sleep in the same bed, every movement, every action, is known to the other members lying there in bed. So in effect, your brother’s nightmare becomes your nightmare. Your father’s exhaustion becomes your exhaustion. Your sister’s cough becomes your cough. And your mother’s dreams become your dreams. Under the covers we were united. Under the covers we were Awakened to our Sleeping Selves. Under the covers we were one.

I see such a relationship among the members of the Slumber Party. We share the same bed of our hearts. We share the same bed of purpose. And in our bed, we share the same dreams. But we are different from my family. We are an organization that remains in the shadows. We choose to remain hidden. We choose to hide behind the veil. We choose to remain under the covers. And it’s this secrecy that binds us all together. It is the bed in which we all sleep. In this bed we are united. Undercover we are one. Repeat it with me. Undercover we are one. Undercover we are one. Undercover we are one.

Do you feel it? Do you feel that unity of purpose? Do you feel that unity of heart? Do you feel that unity of mind. Yes, it’s just as I have felt all along, and it’s just as I have always known. We are united. Together, in secret, in the shadows, we are united. Together, we are our Sleeping Selves. Together, we are awake. Together, we will unleash our dreams and put this long nightmare to an end.