The verification queue stretched along the street outside the examination grounds, forming at first light.
Soldiers guarded both ends of the street, leaving only a single lane in the middle for entry.
The queue moved slowly, passing through one desk at a time.
The platforms had been put up temporarily. Soldiers sat behind them checking documents, with one stack of Dossiers for each queue.
A long bench stood across the front of the platforms. Those who arrived first sat on their bundles, while latecomers rose on tiptoe to peer at the desktops. Each soldier handled one stack, the rustle of turning pages rising and falling. When someone's documents checked out, a name was called, and that person stepped out around the side of the queue. Those at the far end of the street simply sat down against the foot of the wall to wait.
A team of three at the front handed over their documents.
The soldier flipped through them quickly, then stopped midway.
The village registration page was missing, and the seals across the adjoining pages did not match.
The soldier pushed the documents back to the edge of the platform and pointed outside the line.
Their leader bent low and tried pleading once more.
The soldier did not answer, only opened the documents to show them where the page was missing.
The three packed their documents away and withdrew beyond the line.
No one argued. Each queue shuffled forward to fill the empty space. The vacated stretch of bench filled again in an instant.
The wind was harsher outside the line. The three squatted there, and for a long while none of them spoke.
Three people came around from across the street, mud clinging to their shoes. There was no telling which road they had taken.
When their