The Garneau Block (34 page)

“Let's just see what the specialist has to say.” Frieda tried to guide him out of the chair and toward the door.

“What can he say?”

Just then, the intercom at the Ford dealership beeped its introduction. “Garry, line one. Garry, line one.”

“This is what we worked so hard for.” Frieda pointed toward the Ford dealership with one hand, and their small backyard with the other. “Retirement.
This
.”

Stanley was not yet in the mood to go inside. He dismissed the state of his underpants and regarded the majesty of their backyard in May. The budding branches of a sick fruit tree–what fruit?–leaning toward them like a beggar. The chain-link
fence on one side of the lawn and the tall cedar hedge on the other. Peeling white paint on the 1951 stucco of their slumping garage. White and brown siding on their small semi-bungalow, crying out for a spring pressure-wash. All to the tune of their neighbour's schnauzer, Ray Ray, barking at nothing, and a Harley-Davidson rumbling across the alley. “
This
,” he said, and wished Ray Ray would shut up for a minute. He wished the man across the alley would shut off his Harley-Davidson.

Ray Ray stopped barking. The motorcycle went quiet. Stanley heard the man across the alley slap the bike and cuss. He cussed again. A coincidence, Stanley thought, and then, for an instant, he thought otherwise.

“The fuck's going on here?” said the man across the alley. “How does this thing work?”

 

Todd Babiak is the culture columnist for the
Edmonton Journal
. He is the author of three novels,
Choke Hold
, winner of the Writers' Guild of Alberta Robert Kreisel Award for Best First Book and a finalist for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize; the #1 bestseller
The Garneau Block
, which was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize; and, most recently,
The Book of Stanley
. He is also an award-winning screenwriter and the former Lord Mayor of Old Strathcona.

Babiak lives and writes in Edmonton. You can read his blog at
www.toddbabiak.com
.

 

BOOKS BY TODD BABIAK

Choke Hold
(2000)

The Garneau Block
(2006)

The Book of Stanley
(2007)

 

ACCLAIM FOR
The Garneau Block

“As only the best writers can, Todd Babiak has taken a small patch of turf and, through sparkling satire and a passionate eye, made it a world. A neighborhood in Edmonton is about to get a lot of honorary citizens.”

–Ian McGillis, author of
A Tourist's Guide to Glengarry

“[A] witty and endearing love letter delivered to–of all places–the city of Edmonton.”

–
Books in Canada

“Hilarious….
The Garneau Block
not only is funny, it's sophisticated and hokey at the same time–the very essence of Edmonton, fermented, bottled and best served with crackers and brie.”

–Montreal
Gazette

“A delightful tale.”

–
Georgia Straight

“Accessible, charming…. Babiak writes with understated fluency.”

–
Winnipeg Free Press

“
The Garneau Block
is cleanly written, inventive, fast-moving, stuffed with zingers…. If there really are a million stories in Champion City, let this one be the first.”

–
Quill & Quire

“The neurotic high comedy of the best Woody Allen films.”

–
Calgary Herald

“Babiak's language [is]…dense with keen observation–highlighting the beauty, kindness, cynicism, sense of humour and contradiction found in many Edmontonians, most Canadians and modern life in general.”

–
Ottawa Citizen

“A fast-paced ravenous read sparkling with satire.”

–
The Hour

 

Copyright © 2006 by Todd Babiak

Cloth edition published 2006
First Emblem Editions publication 2007

Excerpt from
The Book of Stanley
copyright © 2007 by Todd Babiak

All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the publisher–or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency–is an infringement of the copyright law.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Babiak, Todd, 1972-
The Garneau block / Todd Babiak.

eISBN: 978-1-55199-250-1

I. Title.

PS
8553.
A
2435
G
37 2007   
C
813'.54   
C
2007-902010-0

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and that of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Media Development Corporation's Ontario Book Initiative. We further acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program.

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