Duluth Couple Clears Coat Retrieval In 23 Minutes, Remains On Pace To Leave By Midnight

DULUTH, MN—Local man Dale Brekke, 61, and wife Carol, 59, announced "Well, we should probably get going" at 8:52 p.m. Saturday, opening what observers called a textbook Midwestern goodbye at the home of Ron and Janet Sundquist.

Attendance was announced at four, plus one dog, Biscuit, who went 0-for-3 on leftovers requests.

The Brekkes posted a 23:14 split in coat retrieval, slowed when Dale's parka was located beneath four other coats on the guest bed and found to contain a glove belonging to no one present.

"Nobody's keeping you," said Ron Sundquist, 63, standing directly between the guests and the door.

"Oh, we know, we know," said Carol Brekke, setting her purse back down.

The leftovers negotiation ran 17:40. Janet Sundquist, 60, opened aggressively with three containers of hotdish. Carol countered by returning a casserole dish borrowed on the Fourth of July, which Janet immediately re-loaned "for the bars." Net dishes exchanged: zero.

The doorway summit lasted 31 minutes and covered nine topics, including snowblowers, the church raffle and whether the Sundquists' storm door has "always done that."

At 10:31 p.m., Janet flicked the porch light twice to mean "drive safe." Dale read it as "you forgot something" and returned for an additional nine minutes.

"I've never seen a double-flick misread like that," said neighbor Gail Fossum, 70, who watched from her kitchen window and has been added to the attendance figure.

The driveway debrief clocked in at 26:08.

At press time, the Brekkes had reached their car but rolled the window back down to mention the Lindqvists' new deck, which Dale estimated at "composite, maybe 14 by 20," prompting Ron to step off the porch in his socks.