Dear Rapaire:

One does not free-fall down a totem pole if one is hitting the beaks and heads of the totems, clearly. That would be impeded fall.

In fact we did not hit the actual Totem POle until I cinched 'er down and tightened the dally round the horn enough to stop Mom's fall.

And by that fact she arose from plummet to pinnacle, you see, so no hurt done.

A