Contextual menu when using node variables?

I have a couple of custom content types in my theme...for example, a page with two columns, with separate input boxes for each. One uses the default Drupal 'body', and another a custom field of 'field_left_column'. In my 'template.php' file, I have this function:

function newbie_preprocess_page(&$variables) {
	if (arg(0) == 'node') {
		$variables['node_content'] =& $variables['page']['content']['system_main']['nodes'][arg(1)];
	}
	if (isset($variables['node']->type)) {
		$variables['theme_hook_suggestions'][] = 'page__' . $variables['node']->type;
	}
}

And then in the tpl file for this template, I use the following to display the two fields (leaving out my containers):

if (isset($node_content) && $node_content['field_left_column']) {
    print render($node_content['field_left_column']);
}
if (isset($node_content) && $node_content['body']) {
    print render($node_content['body']);
}

What I cannot figure out is how to attach the contextual edit menu to allow editing. Is there a simple call I can make, or do I need to write a function, create a contextual.tpl file, and so on? None of the results from my searching make sense to me, but that could just be a complete lack of brainpower on my part.

I apologize if any of my terms are not correct, I'm relatively new to drupal dev. Please let me know if the way I'm approaching this is totally bogus and what I should be doing instead.