In memoriam Joy and Sorrow

A memorial was erected on the tenth anniversary of Joel's untimely passing. A grassroots effort by working class citizens,businesses and various places of worship scraped together the money for a monument.

The group known as " Triumph " wanted to do this five years previously, but government officials heaved several roadblocks in front of the group.

First, citing zoning laws as the reason their dreams could not be. They loaded
" Triumph " down with endless paperwork and hoops that took years to jump through.

" Triumph " had not forgotten what Senator Joel Harrington had done for the housing projects. The magician somehow pulled government funding out of a hat so the sewage and vermin situation could be addressed.

He wagered if government housing weren't so Dickensenian,their would be less fighting and murders.For a short space of time,crime dropped significantly.A few years later, Joel was gunned down in his own ,affluent neighborhood and the situation reverted back to the way it was before.
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Sebastian strutted around sporting a turquoise Mohawk that matched his jeans and tuxedo t - shirt.He was chugging a Nesquick stashed in a safe,cool place for after the show. The kid earned the right to puff out his puny chest.

Sebastian just jammed hardcore for his father, Joel's unveiling ceremony. A shit ton of people came up and shook Sebastian's hand, like he mattered. A select few asked if he would play at various gatherings. That day, Sebastian felt he had crossed the threshold from boy to man.

It had been a trial convincing the board of " Triumph " to give Sebastian the okay to play an acoustic version of " Tubthumping " on his guitar. After two grueling auditions and a note explaining why he needed to play " Tubthumping " at the unveiling ceremony,they gave him a thumbs up.

The reasoning behind the song was this. The summer Joel drove Sebastian to camp, " Tubthumping " had played on the radio thrice. Each time, his father cranked up the radio and the two sang the song together. That was the last time the kid had ever seen Joel alive.