A sentence without a predicate in the middle of narrative given in past tense

Question

From William Gibson’s debut 1984 science-fiction novel, Neuromancer:

Crossing the arcade to stand beside her, high on the deal he’d made, he saw her glance up. Gray eyes rimmed with smudged black paintstick. Eyes of some animal pinned in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle.
Their night together stretching into a morning, into tickets at the hoverport and his first trip across the Bay. The rain kept up, falling along Harajuku, beading on her plastic jacket, the children of  Tokyo trooping past the famous boutiques in white loafers and clingwrap capes, until she’d stood with him in the midnight clatter of a pachinko parlor and held his hand like a child.

The whole text before and after that sentence is in past tense. Just want a clarification whether it is just “night that is stretching” or maybe something else that I missed at school. I’m bad with grammar.

Elliot · Answer

It is interesting that you noticed the change in tense. I'm not sure a native speaker, or reader of fiction, would have, unless they were an editor. Yes it was the night they were experiencing then that was stretching, rather like a nice time that they felt like continuing.
A more habitable version of the sentence would be: "Their night together stretched into a morning, into tickets at the hoverport and his first trip across the Bay."
Interesting way to hide the verb stretch.

Stu W · Answer

Really, I found the whole style of communication problematic. I can appreciate grammar is in the eye of the beholder - but really. There are forms of punctuation other than commas and periods, and I was annoyed figuring out if it was a list, an appositive, etc.
The only thing that makes sense is for stretching to be stretched. Even then, I have a hard time with his style.
Their night together stretched into a morning, into...

A sentence without a predicate in the middle of narrative given in past tense

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