Gift Exchange

"Gift Exchange"

Roy Collette and his brother-in-law have been exchanging the same
pair of pants as a Christmas present for 11 years - and each time the
package gets harder to open. This year the pants came wrapped in a car
mashed into a 3-foot cube. The trousers are in the glove compartment
of a 1974 Gremlin. Now Collette's plotting his revenge--if he can get
them out.

It all started when Collette received a pair of moleskin trousers from
his brother-in-law, Larry Kunkel of Bensenville, Ill. Kunkel's mother
had given her son the britches when he was a college student. He wore
them a few times, but they froze stiff in cold weather and he didn't
like them. So he gave them to Collette. Collette, who called the
moleskins "miserable", wore them three times, then wrapped them up and
gave them back to Kunkel for Christmas the next year.

The friendly exchange continued routinely until Collette twisted the
pants tightly, stuffed them into a 3-foot-long, 1-inch wide tube and
gave them back to Kunkel. The next Christmas, Kunkel compressed the
pants into a 7-inch square, wrapped them with wire and gave the "bale"
to Collette. Not to be outdone, the next year Collette put the pants
into a 2-foot-square crate filled with stones, nailed it shut, banded
it with steel and gave the trusty trousers back to Kunkel.

The brothers agreed to end the caper if the trousers were damaged.
But they were as careful as they were clever.

Kunkel had the pants mounted inside an insulated window that had a
20-year guarantee and shipped them off to Collette. Collette broke the
glass, recovered the trousers, stuffed them into a 5-inch coffee can
and soldered it shut. The can was put in a 5-gallon container filled
with concrete and reinforcing rods and given to Kunkel the following
Christmas. Two years ago, Kunkel installed the pants in a 225-pound
homemade steel ashtray made from 8-inch steel casings and etched
Collette's name on the side. Collette had trouble retrieving the
treasured trousers, but succeeded without burning them with a cutting
torch.

Last Christmas, Collette found a 600-pound safe and hauled it to
Viracon Inc. in Owatonna, where the shipping department decorated it
with red and green stripes, put the pants inside and welded the safe
shut. The safe was then shipped to Kunkel, who is the plant manager
for Viracon's outlet in Bensenville.

Last week, the pants were trucked to Owatonna, 55 miles south of
Minneapolis, in a drab green, 3-foot cube that once was a car with
95,000 miles on it. A note attached to the 2,000-pound scrunched car
advised Collette that the pants were inside the glove compartment.
"This will take some planning," Collette said. "I will definitely get
them out. I'm confident." But he's waiting until January to think
about how to recover the bothersome britches.

"Wait until next year," he warned. "I'm on the offensive again."
Received on Wed Dec 29 10:14:54 2004