Tribute

too. Who wouldn’t? But I’m speaking professionally.”
    There came growlings and groanings now, with Spock rolling to his side. “I am a professional. They pay me and everything, which is why I can buy your food.”
    Spock snagged the small, mangled bear he carted around, rolled again and dropped it on Ford’s foot. Then began to dance hopefully in place. “We’ve been through this before. You’re responsible for feeding him.”
    Ignoring the dog, Ford thought of Cilla again. He’d pay another “Hi, neighbor” call. See if he could talk her into posing for him.
    Inside, he loaded up his sketch pad, his pencils, tucked in a copy of The Seeker: Vanished , then considered what he might have around the house to serve as a bribe.
    He settled on a nice bottle of cabernet, shoved that into the bag, then started the hike across the road. Spock deserted the bear and scrambled up to follow.
    SHE SAW HIM COMING as she hauled another load of trash and debris out to the Dumpster she’d rented. Inside the house she’d started piles of wood and trim she hoped to salvage. The rest? It had to go. Sentiment didn’t magically restore rotted wood.
    Cilla tossed the pile, then set her gloved hands on her hips. What did her hot-looking neighbor and appealingly ugly dog want now?
    He’d shaved, she noted. So the scruffy look might’ve been laziness rather than design. She preferred laziness. Over one shoulder he carried a large leather satchel, and as he came down her drive, he lifted a hand in a friendly greeting.
    Spock sniffed around the Dumpster and seemed happy to lift his leg.
    “Hey. You’ve had a lot going on here the last couple of days.”
    “No point wasting time.”
    His grin spread slow and easy. “Wasting time can be the point.” He glanced at the Dumpster. “Are you gutting the place?”
    “Not entirely, but more than I’d hoped. Neglect takes longer to damage than deliberation, but it does the job just as well. Hello, Spock.” At the greeting the dog walked over, offered a paw. Okay, Cilla thought as they shook. Ugly but charming. “What can I do for you, Ford?”
    “I’m working up to that. But first, I brought you this.” He dug into the satchel, came out with the bottle of red.
    “That’s nice. Thanks.”
    “And this.” He drew out the graphic novel. “A little reading material with your wine at the end of the day. It’s what I do.”
    “Drink wine and read comic books?”
    “Yeah, actually, but I meant I write them.”
    “So my father told me, and I was being sarcastic.”
    “I got that. I speak sarcasm, as well as many other languages. Do you ever read them?”
    Funny guy, she thought, with his funny dog. “I crammed in a lot of Batman when they were casting Batgirl for the Clooney version. I lost out to Alicia Silverstone.”
    “Probably just as well, the way that one turned out.”
    Cilla cocked an eyebrow. “Let me repeat. George Clooney.”
    Ford could only shake his head. “Michael Keaton was Batman. It’s all about the I’m-a-little-bit-crazy eyes. Plus they lost the operatic sense after the Keaton movies. And don’t get me started on Val Kilmer.”
    “Okay. Anyway, I prepped for the audition by studying the previous movies—and yes, Keaton was fabulous—reading some of the comics, boning up on the mythology. I probably overprepped.”
    She shrugged off what had been a major blow to her at sixteen. “You do your own art?”
    “Yeah.” He studied her as she studied the cover. Look at that mouth, he thought, and the angle of her chin. His fingers itched for his pad and pencil. “I’m territorial and egotistical. Nobody can do it the way I do it, so nobody gets the chance.”
    She flipped through as he spoke. “It’s a lot. I always think of comics as about twenty pages of bright colors and characters going BAM! ZAP! Your art’s strong and vivid, with a lot of dark edges.”
    “The Seeker has a lot of dark edges. I’m finishing up a new one. It should be done in a few days. It would’ve been done today, probably, if you hadn’t distracted me.”
    The wine tucked in the curve of her arm took on another level of weight. “How did I do that?”
    “The way you look, the way you move. I’m not hitting on you on a personal level.” He slid his gaze down. “Yet,” he qualified. “It’s a professional tap. I’ve been trying to come up with a new character, the central for another series, apart from the Seeker. A woman—female power, vulnerabilities,