I'd fallen into the Indian way of being content to say nothing as talk in social situations. Sometimes I'd be with Clayton or Jim for hours without saying ten words, just sitting around being together. . . . The Indians I knew spoke or remained silent, came and went, as they pleased — without the pressure of expectation that Whites impose on each other. One of the benefits was that real understanding could take place when nobody was compulsively keeping the talk going.

— Tom Harmer, What I've Always Known