This is an excerpt from my Novel A long Slow Aftermath.

FYI – Toshi is blind.

     There was a fairly large crowd outside of 924 Gilman.
     “Where’d all these kids come from?” asked Lee as they walked up to the door.
     “Damn Lee,” said Preston. “Y’all makin’ us sound old.”
     “Is it really all teenagers?” asked Toshi.
     “Naw. There’s plenty of old punks,” said Miranda.
     “What’s old?” asked Preston. “We’re not old.”
     “Yes we are.”
     “Wait, am I old if I’m hanging out with a bunch of old punks?” asked Toshi.
     “I think you were probably the only adult in the car, Toshi,” said Lee.
     Toshi took Preston’s arm as they approached the club. Lee was walking and talking with Miranda right behind them. Toshi looked anxious as they stood in line.
     “Do I look like a total dork?” asked Toshi.
     “Naw. There’s all kindsa people here. You don’t have to have a big ol’ green mohawk to look the part.”
     Miranda lifted her cane and took hold of Preston’s free hand as they walked into the club.
     Haste appeared and walked right up to Preston. “Damn Preston! You got all the ladies tonight!”
     “He’s just holding us up and guiding us around,” said Toshi.
     “Why? You about to fall over?”
     Toshi held up her white cane.
     “Oh! Okay.”
     “He’s holding me up,” said Miranda.
     Haste looked at Miranda and dramatically put his hands over his heart. “I would fall for you anytime, love!”
     “Psh!” dismissed Miranda as she rolled her eyes.
     “Haste, this is my friend Toshi.”
     “Hey Haste!” said Toshi as she held out a hand.
     Haste shook Toshi’s hand. “What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?”
     “This is my first ever punk show.”
     “No shit? Damn. I’ve been to about a million of them.”
     Toshi turned to Preston. “So is Haste handsome? Is he a total catch?”
     “I’m dead ugly,” said Haste. “Seriously.”
     “No you’re not,” said Miranda. Miranda turned to Toshi. “He’s just being a dork.”
     “No really,” said Haste. “I was recently identified as the leading cause of vaginal dryness.”
     Toshi put a hand to her face as she tried not to let out a loud laugh.
     “Haste is our comic relief,” said Preston.
     Miranda let go of Preston’s arm. “Be right back.” Miranda headed for the back of the club.
     “So what are you supposed to do at one of these things?” asked Toshi.
     “Do?” asked Haste. “Like y’mean at a show or at a punk show in particular?”
     “Punk show! I’ve been to concerts before.”
     “A lotta people just hang out and listen to the band,” said Preston. “Just like at any show.”
     “Or you can take a couple of turns in the pit,” said Haste.
     “Preston told me about the pit,” said Toshi. “Mashing or something.”
     “Moshing,” said Preston.
     “Something about you jump around and people run into you.”
     “It’s kind of like a washing machine full of punks,” said Haste. “They basically run and jump in one direction though.”
     “My girlfriend didn’t want me to go,” said Toshi. “She’s worried I’ll get hurt.”
     Haste struck a pose. “Don’t worry m’lady. I will protect you!”
     “Where’s the pit?” asked Toshi.
     Preston glanced at the front of the club. People were starting to congregate near the stage as the next band was about to play.
     “There’s no pit right now,” said Preston. “It starts up when the band plays. Sometimes anyways. Depends on the crowd’s mood and how good the band is.”
     “Who’s playing?” asked Toshi.
     “Sex Star,” said Haste. “They kick ass!”
     “Where’s the pit gonna be?”
     “Want me to show you?”
     Toshi leaned towards Preston. “Can I trust this guy?”
     “No. But go with him anyway.”
     “Okay.” Toshi held out her arm. Haste took her by the hand.
     “It’s just a shame you can’t see how devastatingly handsome I am!” said Haste as he led Toshi towards the front of the club.
     “I thought you said you were ugly.”
     “Yeah, but it’s pretty dark in here. That’s when I look good!”
     Preston looked around the club as Haste gave Toshi a tour of the place. He scanned the crowd. He saw a lot of younger people he did not know. He saw a few older punks whom he recognized from the scene. He knew them well enough to walk up and say hello, but he still stood in place.
     He wondered where members of his old crew were. No doubt some of them would be showing up later. Many of them went to shows so often their arrival time was quite random.
     He reminded himself that he had not seen most of them since he had gotten clean. How would they react? How many of them knew that he was not using anymore?
     Miranda surprised Preston when she suddenly appeared and took him by the arm. “Where’s Toshi?”
     “Haste took her up to the front,” said Preston as he pointed.
     “No shit?” She stood on her toes and looked around the front of the club. “Ain’t that a little risky?”
     “Toshi wanted to go up front. Don’t worry. Haste will keep an eye on her.”
     “You sure about that?”
     “Yeah.”
     “You don’t sound so sure.”
     He looked towards the front of the club. “I just ain’t that worried about it. I think Toshi will be fine.”
     The band slammed out a shrill power chord in time with a sudden drum beat. Preston could see Toshi putting her hands up to her ears.
     “You gave her earplugs, right?” asked Miranda.
     “Thea did!” shouted Preston as the band was getting louder.
     Preston tried to watch the band as Miranda kept craning her neck, looking out for Toshi. He saw Haste standing next to her near the front of the stage.
     The crowd was fairly jubilant, but not rowdy. People were bobbing their heads and moving to the music. The singer started shredding away on her guitar and getting the crowd riled up as she shouted the lyrics.
     By the third song some people had started to move in a circle near the front of the stage.
     By the fifth song a proper pit had opened up. At least twenty people were moshing in a counter-clockwise pit in the middle of the club.
     Preston craned his neck around to look at the crowd by the stage.
     “Holy shit,” said Miranda.
     “What?”
     Miranda took Preston by the arm and guided him closer to the pit. Preston’s eyes became wide when he saw Toshi standing in the middle of a circle pit, moshing punks flying by her with kicking legs and swinging arms, but no one was running into her. No one was even touching her, even the ones who were flying by her as they dashed and clambered and fell around the turning circle of punks.
     Preston walked around the pit and squeezed himself along the row of punks who were at the edge of the stage. He kept glancing at Toshi as the small hurricane of moshing punks swirled around her.
     The band finished a song and the turning stopped. Toshi reached up and pulled her earplugs out.
     “What’s with this pit?” bellowed Toshi. “No one’s running into me. I thought someone was supposed to run into me!”
     “Toshi, you’re crazy!” shouted Preston.
     “You made me crazy!” shouted Toshi as she pointed with an accusing finger. The band started up again and Haste rounded the circle and sided up to Toshi, bumping into her with his shoulder.
     “Oh!” yelped Toshi.
     Haste put his arm around Toshi. “You’re supposed to push back!”
     Toshi put her hands up against Haste and pushed him. A young and thin man with a green mohawk came by Toshi and spun into her, lightly bumping her. She tried to throw a shoulder back but missed him.
     A leather jacketed punk with an explosion of bright red hair spun up to Toshi and took her by the arm, hooking her arm and spinning her slowly around as more punks started flying towards Toshi, running and bumping into her more vigorously than before, but still being cautious by not throwing full on body slams.
     “Holy crap!” exclaimed Preston to himself. Toshi was laughing and smiling as she was being turned around in the pit by the flaming red haired punk.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

     Miranda was talking to the Sex Star’s singer who was still on stage as the band was breaking down their set. Preston looked for Toshi.
     He finally found her by the merchandise table. She was standing next to Haste and talking to a tall and thin dark haired woman behind the table.
     Preston walked up to Toshi and put a hand on her shoulder. “I’ve never seen you with your hair messed up.”
     “Is it?” Toshi put her hands to her head. Her fingers tangled in her unruly hair. “Oh yeah, it is a mess!” said Toshi with a wide grin on her face.
     A loud noise. Before Preston could turn around someone slammed into him, knocking him into Haste and Toshi. Preston fell to the ground, landing on his shoulder. Someone landed on his legs. It was two people, a leather-jacketed man with a large green Mohawk and another man in raggedy brown and beige clothes with ratty hair, grappling with each other.
     Preston pulled his legs out from under the two combatants as they rolled around on the floor. As Preston stood up he saw Toshi hanging onto the edge of the merchandise table, hoisting herself up to regain her footing.
     Haste stood up and put himself between Toshi and the fighting punks who were being pulled apart by club security.
     By the time Preston found his footing again Miranda had sided up next to Toshi.
     “Preston, you startin’ fights?” asked Haste as he slapped him on the shoulder.
     Miranda took Toshi by the arm. “You okay?”
     “Yeah, yeah,” gasped Toshi. “What happened?”
     “A couple of drunk yahoos decided to have a cage match,” said Haste.
     “A fight? Okay.”
     “It’s all over,” said Preston. “They got tossed.”
     Miranda took hold of Toshi’s hand. “You want to go in the back? Maybe go hang out on the couch in the break room?”
     “Yeah, sure,” said an exasperated looking Toshi as she ran her hands over herself.
     Miranda guided Toshi into the back room.
     “Fuckin’ dorks,” said Haste.
     “Well, she wanted a punk rock experience,” said Preston.
     “I hope it doesn’t throw her off too much.”
     “Maybe we shoulda brought her to a slower night.”
     Preston walked around the crowd, killing time before the next band as he bumped into a few people he knew and stopped a few times for quick and casual conversations. He peered around the corner into the break room. Miranda and Toshi were sitting on the couch and talking to one of the big bald security punks. Toshi was nodding and smiling as she clasped and unclasped her hands.
     Walking back into the crowd, the next band was about to start. Preston suddenly thought about Thea, and what Thea would have to say when they brought Toshi back. Earlier he had wondered why Thea had not come along, being as Thea had been to enough shows back in her warehouse days. He decided he was glad that she had not come along. He could only imagine the scene she would be making if she had been there.
     Preston tried to relax as the headlining band started up.
     “Hello heathens!” shouted the short singer through her Halloween cat mask. “We are the Whores of Arafat, and we’re here to annex you!”
     The band started with a loud three chord intro. By now the crowd had gotten so riled up by Sex Star that a pit opened up almost immediately during their first song. By their third song the entire place was moving, people jumping up and down and dancing, with a big pit in front of the stage.
     Miranda appeared by Preston’s side.
     “Where’s Toshi?”
     Miranda pointed towards the stage.
     Toshi and Haste were right in the middle of the pit.