003: The Punch

I spotted him through the haze of cigarette smoke and flashing lights on the crowded dance floor of the Prince Consort. He was about six feet tall, a couple of inches taller than me, blond, athletic, and would probably have been considered handsome had it not been for the permanent sneer etched across his face. He was eighteen. I was nineteen. Everyone called him Barney. He came from the rough end…