Right in the middle of the Rathausplatz, after leaving his flat to go to his father's bedside, Oskar Serti suddenly stops in mid-errand, paralysed at the thought that he might have forgotten to turn off the gas under the casserole that Catherine de Sélys asked him to put on to simmer…
As he crosses the Rathausplatz, Oskar Serti suddenly comes to a halt, not sure whether it is more important to go and check that the gas has been turned off under Catherine's casserole, or to rush to his father's bedside.
After a few steps along the Teinfalstraße, Oskar Serti stops short to cock an ear, thinking he has heard a fire engine stopping at the foot of his block of flats, which he has just left. Serti is obsessed with the idea that, in his haste to rush to his father's bedside, he may have forgotten to turn off the gas…
As he walks along the Bognergasse on his way to his father's bedside, Oskar Serti suddenly stops in his tracks at the thought that maybe he has forgotten to turn off the gas under the casserole that Catherine de Sélys asked him to cook, and that it must have boiled over, extinguished the flame and let gas leak out into the flat where Catherine has possibly just got back and switched on the light…