And the line starts to move as always, a uniform slow trudge up to the cart and back down along the wall, each person reaching in for their allotted ration.

For a brief moment Edgar contemplates trying to take two, in case Curtis can't make it to the next headcount, but he discards the thought immediately. He's seen what can happen when people try to grab more than their share; once that he can remember clearly, which ended with the thief having his fingers broken and losing his ration for three days. And he's heard people talk about an earlier time, when it ended with a riot as people mobbed the cart, frantic with the urge to get their own fair share while they could -- or to imitate the thief and get as much as they could while they could, fairness be damned. The guards opened fire on the crowd; dozens died.

When he gets to the head of the line he very carefully takes one block, glowering at the guards behind his falling hair.