The Birthday Lunch (28 page)

Laverne lifts a clump of soil into a pot and without looking up, she asks, “And what is that?”

“You’ll see when you put out your hand.”

Laverne stands but Hal still cannot see the face hidden beneath the coolie hat. He doesn’t know if she will ignore him or oblige him, but after a moment’s hesitation, Laverne concedes and Hal places the gold earring on her gloved hand. “You dropped this earring on the garage floor the night before Lily’s birthday when you put water in the Impala’s gas tank because you were so determined to have a birthday lunch for Lily without me. I think you should have it back,” Hal says and walks away.

Above him, clouds stream across the sky and in the distance he hears the grumble and thump of Katjana, the soft rolling thunder, the slow rumble of retreat.

I would like to thank Ross Leckie and Mark Jarman for inviting me to be UNB’s Writer-in-Residence during 2012–2013. The opportunity to live and work in Fredericton was fortuitous since I was well into the fourth draft of
The Birthday Lunch
, a novel set an hour’s drive away in Sussex, one of four Maritime towns where I have lived.

I would also like to express my appreciation to the Sussex Regional Library and in particular Fennella Brewer, who was tireless in tracking down information germane to the novel. Thanks also to Alice MacFarland, who provided me with information about the pauper auctions held in Kings County, New Brunswick, during the nineteenth century. Thanks to Andrew Crawford for sharing his knowledge of auto mechanics and woodworking. And thanks to the Sussex RCMP detachment,
Wallace Funeral Home and the Covered Bridge Inn. Grateful thanks to my hospitable friend Ruby Grey, who provided me with books about the early history of the town.

I am grateful to Gail Crawford, Tony and Pam Clark, Bernice Morgan and Conny Steenman-Marcusse for reading early drafts of the novel. Special thanks to my friend and former editor, Diane Martin, who now lives in Woody Point, Newfoundland. And special thanks to my friend and agent, Dean Cooke, for his expertise and eagle eye. Thanks also to Angelika Glover for her close reading and to Ruta Liormonas for her enthusiasm.

Last but not least, grateful thanks to Anne Collins for her incisive editing, and to my editor, Amanda Betts, whose comments, suggestions and patience helped shape this novel the way I wanted, which is to say, as tight as a drum.

JOAN CLARK
is the award-winning author of sixteen books, including
The Victory of Geraldine Gull
(finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction);
Eiriksdottir: A Tale of Dreams and Luck; Latitudes of Melt
(a New York Times Notable Book); and
An Audience of Chairs
(winner of the Winterset Award), as well as two short-story collections and several novels for young adults. She received the Marian Engel Award from the Writers’ Trust of Canada for her body of work in 1991, and was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2010. Born and raised in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, she now lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland.