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Reveal or Conceal?
hard tack candy, which I knew he liked. I wrapped the whole thing
up in a bundle with some spare red cotton cloth and, at the last min-
ute, included a fifty-dollar bill. With these gifts, the request for an in-
terpretation could be properly made.
As was customary at the conclusion of the sweat lodge, everyone
returned to Maurice’s house for a feast, which often lasted for several
hours, as people ate, relaxed, talked, and accepted teachings from the
male and female leaders who were present. I stayed later than usual,
waiting for an opportunity to speak with Maurice alone. Finally, after
nearly three hours, I sat with Maurice at his kitchen table and asked if
he would be willing to interpret a dream I had recently had but could
not comprehend. Maurice agreed to do so, and I offered him the gifts
according to local protocols, which he accepted with a suggestion that
I follow him into a back room where we could speak privately.
Sitting together on a small couch in the back room, I suddenly felt
timid, ridiculous, a little unsure of myself, and even less certain of my
purpose. Maurice, perhaps, sensed my hesitation and began to speak
first. He asked about my family (which he invariably did) and spoke
for a few moments about his most recent “bad” luck at bingo. Once
he had me laughing, it was clear the floor was mine. I told the dream
exactly as I have written it, and included the story of Elena’s death, my
experience at the Eagle Society Sundance, the fast at Carolla’s, and the
Sundance preparations I had engaged in, and briefly described some
of the other dreams I had had.
I spoke for nearly half an hour, and Maurice had said not a word
nor asked a single question. Even after I finished, he remained very
still and said and did nothing for a full ten minutes. When he began
to speak, I could barely hear his words, for his head was down and
he was speaking directly into his chest. I had to listen carefully. He
began with an abridged version of his life story in the form of a ver-
bal genealogy, starting with his grandparents, moving on to his par-
ents, and then to his brothers and sisters. He made a self-deprecating
joke about his third “marriage” and finally spoke about his children
and his grandchildren. Maurice, then, offered several vignettes about
dreams he had had as a young man. In addition, he spoke about
his career as a former award-winning powwow dancer. The stories
