In 1989, Andrei Pandele photographed a queue for milk in central Bucharest. The COURAGE Registry places the image among his records of the long lines that became ordinary during Romania’s final communist years. Rationing had returned under the label of “rational nutrition,” while shortages worsened as the regime prioritised repayment of foreign debt. One detail Pandele recalled was bottles of milk frozen in the street. Bottles and empty bags placed on the pavement could also act as substitutes for bodies, marking turns when people stepped away. The photograph shares its historical setting with his cheese queue, but milk preserved an additional fact: the temperature and duration of outdoor waiting could alter the commodity’s container before purchase. A frozen bottle made shortage and winter visible in the same object.