It all comes crashing down for the brothers. Scenes of Jerzy’s surgery are juxtaposed with something else we can’t figure out at first — a bar being pried loose with a blowtorch. Then back to the surgery … and then we see someone petting their large black (apparently fairly docile) dog, and now we get what’s going on.

Jerzy and Artur are leaving the hospital. Jerzy asks to “see it” and Artur produces the pink Mercury stamp. Jerzy takes a look and chides him for not bringing it around and showing him earlier. But then Artur breaks down … he explains that he couldn’t come by because he didn’t know how to tell Jerzy — someone broke in and took everything.

Jerzy shows up at the apartment to take a look. He gets angry at the poor dog for just sitting around peacefully like a lap dog. Then he asks if the police have been called. The doorbell rings. A detective enters. He asks about the alarm system and Jerzy admits that it had been disconnected while he was installing the bars — the very ones that had been broken through.

The detective seems a little skeptical of the brothers. Perhaps theft of this sort had become all too common a sight. But in general, I don’t understand why the alarm should matter. While their father apparently considered insuring the stamps, he never did, so I don’t see how the alarm is relevant, other than being one more kick in the pants.

As the scene closes, Artur leaves, saying that he’s found a new job at a bar and doesn’t want anything to do with stamps. He gives Jerzy the pink Mercury.

It’s a sad conclusion to their brief reign as stamp moguls. But there are some surprises in store in the final segment, driving the brothers apart and bringing them back together again.