AtD translation: and many began to edge away, anticipating trouble up the tracks

[Arthur Fuller]

"Up the tracks" refers to railway tracks, most often, but could in an urban
situation mean subway tracks. As to "trouble", that's purposely ambiguous.
In a Hollywood Western, it might mean Commanches about to attack the train,
or a gang of train-robbers a la Jesse James. In more modern times, it could
mean that the tracks have been blocked with logs by a First Nations tribe
demonstrating against some corporate  takeover of their lands. And again in
an urban context, it could ne  a body left on the tracks to be severed by
the wheels.

On Mon, Oct 19, 2020 at 11:27 PM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> P367.33-38   Yup Toy herself, waiting by a huge ice machine among a row of
> Oriental ice-girls in abbreviated sequined getups, her painted face a
> porcelain mask in the naphtha-light streaming from somewhere beneath,
> gazed, sucking at a scarlet fingernail, failing to look inscrutable to any
> but the habitually dismissive, such as Ruperta. To others more appreciative
> of her virtues, her mind was an open book, and many began to edge away,
> anticipating trouble up the tracks.
>
> What is this last part of the sentence about? What kind of trouble is being
> expected? And what is "up the tracks" exactly?
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>


-- 
Arthur