“Couldn’t you stop them?”

“Me? Nah. Dat’s Cline’s how-dya-do.” Spunk alone used Rousseau’s first name. Always gave me a start—was it true familiarity or an affectation?

“Well, somebody ought to. How come they can say whatever they want, and Rubio can’t? He’s not screaming at the top of his lungs!”

Rubio ticked me a glance and shook his head once.

Spunk said, “If ya doan git dat, ya bettah learn.”

This wasn’t one I was going to win. I let it pass and dug into my food.

Jake uncorked his water bottle, took a swig. He was always gentle with Sam, but he’d run out of steam. “Hold on, Sam, okay? Let me get some chow in.” Being just off shift, this was dinner for him. His performance glow faded, leaving him irritable, too tired even to flirt.

“Rough day at the Souk?” I was sympathetic, but also curious. If the Souk was to be a goal, I’d need to know more about it than I did.

“No more than usual,” he mumbled into his stew bowl.

Sam set down his tray and dropped into the last empty chair, smoothing wrinkles from his cook’s apron. He folded his clean, pale hands precisely in front of him, but his eyes followed Jake’s every spoonful.

“Sam, Sam, let the man eat. My turn.” Rube shoved his half-eaten food aside and cleared his throat to compete with the racket from Blue. Worried me how hoarse he was. “So, ten years after Jake was treading water on West 46th, I was . . .”

Rubio’s storm story was dark and chaotic, heavy with gory detail and the gross failure of “the authorities” to manage the situation. At some point, he’d always exclaim, “And the politicians ran for their lives!” Sam grinned and clapped his soft palms, even though by his storm, most of them were long gone from the Island. If the center of power moves to high ground, the politicians are bound to follow.

Thing was, he’d forget it all by the next day, maybe the next hour. My past was hidden in shock and trauma. Sam’s past was intact, but brain injuries had wiped his ability to remember anything since. So it never mattered what storm you were talking about. It was all one big storm to Sam, and he was always riveted.

Any doubt which of us was the most tragic?