He took his own wallet, his own watch, his own wedding ring, and he exchanged them for his brother’s, leaving his identity upon his unconscious brother and taking Sebastian’s for himself.

And then he got clear of the wreck and left, and when help came he gave his brother’s name as his own, and claimed to be the survivor.

I will not describe what the fire did, because it does no one any good to describe it, and because the cruelty of that day is not in the flames but in the swap, in the deliberate, clear-eyed choice a man made to trade his dying brother’s chance of rescue for his own escape.

No one will ever be able to say for certain whether Sebastian could have been pulled free in time if Santiago had run for help instead of running for himself.