“He’d heard of people who’s been wedged between a subway train and its platform, able to listen and speak, and to whom recue crews and a hastily summoned priest could only explain that the moment they were freed, their demise- delayed- would now be arriving on Track 2, and did they have any message for their loved ones before they were released from both their pinion and existence?”
In: Other
There’s a bit of a metaphor here. In the predicament described, the person is still alive, but only because of the pressure pinning them between the train and the platform. Once their body is removed from that position, something bad will happen (probably massive blood loss), and they will die. This death cannot be prevented, but it can be delayed by keeping them where they are, and this permits time for things like last rites or goodbyes to loved ones.
The author then takes this idea of death being delayed but arriving eventually and imagines it as a subway train. At major subway stations, it’s common to hear announcements about what trains are arriving on what tracks (though this is honestly more of a thing at big train stations with scheduled departures). The author is applying this kind of language to the “arrival” of the unfortunate person’s death. There is no literal train coming on track 2 whose arrival would kill the them.
Latest Answers