Question

totem by thomas king
beebe hill stood at the reception desk of the southwest alberta art gallery and prairie museum and drummed her fingers on the counter until walter hooton came out of the director’s office. she was annoyed, she told walter, and she thought other people were annoyed, too, but were too polite to complain about the noises the totem pole in the far corner of the room was making.
“it sounds like gargling.”
walter assured her that there wasn’t a totem pole in the entire place including the basement and the storage room. the current show, he explained, featured contemporary canadian art from the atlantic provinces.
“it’s called ‘seaviews,’” walter said, smiling with all his teeth showing. there had been, he admitted, a show on northwest coast carving at the gallery some nine years back, and, as he recalled, there might have been a totem pole in that exhibit.
mrs. hill, who was fifty - eight and quite used to men who smiled with all their teeth showing, took his hand and walked him to the back of the gallery. “gargling,” said beebe. “it sounds like gargling.”
mrs. hill and mr. hooton stood and looked at the corner for a very long time. “well,” said the director finally, “it certainly looks like a totem pole. but it doesn’t sound at all like gargling. it sounds more like chuckling.”
mrs. hill snorted and tossed her head over her shoulder. and what, she wanted to know, would a totem pole have to chuckle about. “in any case,” said mrs. hill, “it is quite annoying, and i think the museum should do something about the problem”. it

Explanation:

Since no specific question is provided about this text, it's not possible to give a targeted answer. If you want to analyze the characters' interactions, the theme of the story, or have questions about the literary devices used, please clarify your question (e.g., "What is the conflict in this excerpt from 'Totem'?" or "Analyze the characterization of Beebe Hill in this passage").

Answer:

Since no specific question is provided about this text, it's not possible to give a targeted answer. If you want to analyze the characters' interactions, the theme of the story, or have questions about the literary devices used, please clarify your question (e.g., "What is the conflict in this excerpt from 'Totem'?" or "Analyze the characterization of Beebe Hill in this passage").