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been watching me, or drawing me when I wasn't aware of it. It's a problem for me."

"Because you see it as an invasion of privacy. And I see it as natural observation."

She took a drink. "All my life, people watched me, took pictures. Observed me. Take a walk, shop for shoes, go for ice cream, it's a photo op. Maybe it was usually set up for that precise purpose, but I didn't have any control over that. Even though I'm not in the business, I'm still Janet Hardy's granddaughter, so it still happens from time to time."

"And you don't like it."

"Not only don't like it, I'm done with it. I don't want to bring that by-product of Hollywood here."

"I can go with the second face, but I've got to have the eyes."

She took another drink. "Here's the sticky part, for me. I don't want you to use the second face. I feel stupid about it, but I like the idea of being the inspiration for a comic book hero. And that is something I never thought I'd hear myself say."

Inside, Ford did a little happy dance of his own. "So it's not the results, it's the process. You want something to eat? I want something to eat." He turned, opened another cupboard and pulled out a bag of Doritos.

"That's not actual food."

"That's what makes it good. All of my life," he continued as he dug into the bag, "I've watched people. Drawn pictures-well, I drew pictures as soon as I could hold a crayon. I've observed-the way they move, gesture, the way their faces and bodies are put together. How they carry themselves. It's like breathing. Something I have to do. I could promise not to watch you, but I'd be lying. I can promise to show you any sketching I do, and try to keep that promise."

Because they were there, she ate a Dorito. "What if I hate them?"

"You won't, if you have any taste, but if you do, that would be too bad."

Contemplating, she ate another chip. His voice had stayed easy, she noted-over the rigid steel underlying it. "That's a hard line."

"I'm not what you'd call flexible about my work. I can pretzel about most anything else."

"I know the type. What comes after the sketching?"

"You've got to have a story. Graphics is only half of a graphic novel. But you need to... Bring your wine. Come on upstairs."

He retrieved his brush. "I was inking the last panel on Payback when you knocked," he told her as he led her out of the kitchen and to the stairs.

"Are these stairs original?"

"I don't know." His forehead creased as he looked down at them. "Maybe. Why?"

"It's beautiful work. The pickets, the banister, the finish. Someone took care of this place. It's a major contrast with mine."

"Well, you're taking care now. And you hired Matt-pal of mine-to do some of the carpentry. I know he worked on this place before I bought it. And did some stuff for me after." He turned into his studio.

Cilla saw the gorgeous wide-planked chestnut floor, the beautiful tall windows and the wide, glossy trim. "What a wonderful room."

"Big. It was designed as the master bedroom, but I don't need this much space to sleep."

Cilla tuned into him again, and into the various workstations set up in the room. Five large, and very ugly, filing cabinets lined one wall. Shelves lined another with what seemed to be a ruthless organization of art supplies and tools. He'd devoted another section to action figures and accessories. She recognized a handful of the collection, and wondered why Darth Vader and Superman appeared so chummy.

A huge drawing board stood in the center of the room, currently holding what she assumed to be the panels he'd talked about. Spreading out from it on either side, counters and cubbies held a variety of tools, pencils, brushes, reams of paper. Photographs, sketches, pictures torn or cut out of magazines of people, places, buildings. Still another leg of the counter held a computer, printer, scanner-a Buffy the Vampire Slayer action figure.

Opposite that, to form a wide U, stood a full-length mirror.

"That's a lot of stuff."

"It takes a lot of stuff. But for the art, which is what you want to know, I'll do a few million sketches, casting my people, costuming them, playing with background, foreground, settings-and somewhere in there I'll write the script, breaking that into panels. Then I'll do thumbnails- small, quick sketches to help me decide how I'm going to divide