On 17 June 2022, vehicle owners queued to buy petrol in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Reuters’ image caption identifies the fuel shortage and the country’s economic crisis as the context, and credits photographer Dinuka Liyanawatte. The record does not establish the length of the queue, waiting time, purchase limits or whether every vehicle was eventually served, so those details are not added. What it directly confirms is that national scarcity took a physical form: vehicles arranged in sequence for access to petrol. A car is ordinarily a means of movement; without fuel, it also becomes a large placeholder, occupying the road to preserve its owner’s turn.