The days grow short when you reach September. It will be dark shortly after 5:00 p.m. this evening. I like the short days. A calm blanket of night settles over the land. A time to be quiet and reflect. A time to consider. A time to plan. Fall Festivities like the short days. A time of hayrides and campfires. Ale at the local pub and stories that mystify. Stories that pull back the curtain on the Secret. Spirits are watching. We are not alone.

The Quiet Man sits with us by the campfire. He smiles as he listens to the stories. He likes spiced rum. The animals of the Woods love him. He talks with them and they talk back. He remembers the first Thanksgiving. The difficulty of moving to a new world. He helped bury many of his fellow travelers. The Quiet Man evokes memories of hunger and deprivation in the cold, with no shelter. The kindness of strangers sustained him. He smoked the peacepipe. Tobacco was a lovely pastime for listening and telling stories around the campfire. No one was excluded; all were welcome.

‘I come from long ago,’ Quiet Man said. ‘I heard the angry throng cry, ‘Give us Barrabas,’ Quiet Man said. ‘When I looked into his eyes, I was lost in the pools of eternity,’ Quiet Man continued. ‘To look at him, he seemed ordinary until he spoke,’ Quiet Man noted. ‘He welcomed all and turned no one away,’ Quiet Man observed. ‘The term sinner or black sheep had no relevance to him; he loved everyone equally,’ Quiet Man attested. We at the banks of the river hung on his words of a time of peace,’ Quiet Man said softly. ‘He cautioned of those preaching in his name but not his message,’ Quiet Man continued. ‘He told us to look at the fruit of their tree.’ Quiet Man smiled and poured another spiced rum.

‘Much of what we see is a dream,’ Quiet Man’s Friend said. ‘We have watched and listened to learn much,’ QMF continued. ‘The Plan is so much bigger than we imagine,’ QMF said. ‘I have been guarding Quiet Man for centuries,’ QMF noted. ‘He is an easy companion and does not speak unless he has something to say,’ QMF explained. ‘Quiet Man is a Watcher,’ Quiet Man’s Friend informed. ‘There are many Watchers in the land,’ Quiet Man’s Friend explained. ‘They say little but understand the Veil and the Secret behind it,’ QMF said clearly. ‘Quite Man is here to help if we want it,’ QMF said.

‘What is your name, Friend? What shall we call you,’ Chet asked. ‘Both you and Quiet Man have a familiar look, and I have seen your photos and fine art,’ Chet noted. ‘Your voices are familiar and like the sound of many doves or the rippling of a brook on an autumn day,’ Chet continued. ‘I have seen Quiet Man in my dreams and you standing behind him,’ Chet explained.

‘We are here to record and chronicle the happenings of humans as they search for the Secret,’ Quiet Man explained. ‘You see us now and you will see us again on the other side of the Veil,’ Quiet Man assured. ‘We watch and wait for the promise to be fulfilled,’ Quiet Man said calmly and softly. ‘Accept all of God’s creation and do not reject any of his children,’ the Quiet Man said.