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“I’ll write down a few skills and bits of experience you can work into a letter. Casey could do the same thing.”
    Riley handed Sam a pad and pencil, but looked Casey over with a critical air. “She’s a girl. She could maybe work at the rope factory or as a servant.”
    Casey looked flabbergasted, but Sam said, “Let’s assume her class is a bit higher than that. I don’t believe she has the background to do either of those jobs.”
    Riley pursed his lips as he thought. “Seamstress?”
    Casey shrugged. “I can sew up a cut in an emergency.”
    “What?” Riley seemed quite confused.
    “First aid,” Casey explained. “My mother’s a doctor and she made me take extensive first aid training. ‘So I’d be useful in emergencies,’ she always said. The only real job experience I’ve had has been working in the Botanic Garden as a student assistant.”
    “Her major was horticulture,” Sam supplied. “Quite useful to Ireland in the twenty-first century.”
    Casey nodded, looking hopefully at Riley, but he just shook his head. “I can’t imagine what use a girl would be in the gardens. That’s hard work.”
     Casey rolled her eyes and Sam sighed, turning his attention to his pad of paper.
    ~~~
    When they left Riley's office an hour later, they were not much better off than when they arrived. Sam possessed a generic letter of reference and a newspaper folded to the classified section. He also had in his pocket two five-pound notes that he had reluctantly accepted from Riley, along with directions to a store that had cheap clothes. Riley insisted they take the money, as he had no other help to offer them and they would have needs while looking for work. He assured them it would not last long, but that it was all he could spare. He also asked them not to come back. If a prospective employer called, he would give a good reference, but he hoped to never see them again.
    "I think we scare him, Dr. Altair," Casey offered in consolation as she and Sam headed for the business district. "Give him some time to think about it. Maybe his scientific curiosity will get the better of him and he'll be in touch."
    "Maybe." Sam was doubtful. "Listen, we may as well get on first names, don't you think?" He stopped and looked at her in regret. "I'm afraid we may be here a long time and we'll be better off if we stick together." He paused at her hesitant expression, then moved over to a bench and sat. Casey followed, but remained standing.
    "I don't know you, Dr. Altair," she began, then stopped, and sat down next to him, staring at her feet. "Until last night, I'd never laid eyes on you. Now you're the only person in the world that I know. You seem like a nice enough person," she looked up at him with narrowed eyes, "although perhaps a bit careless at times." He "harrumphed" at that and she smiled a bit, but turned serious, again. "I'm really afraid, Sam," she said. "But I want to survive. I'm not sure what that means in this time period, but I guess we just take it a day at a time. And you're right: we need to stick together."
    She stood again, but regarded him, still serious. "So let's call it friends and see what happens. But Sam, I really do know karate. Brown belt."
    He laughed and stood as well, rubbing his arm. "I'm convinced you know karate," he said as he started off toward the store. "You're in charge of security."
    "Great," she muttered, following after him. "At least I have a job."
     

 
    Chapter 3
     
     
    January 25, 1906–March 1906
     
    With judicious use, the ten pounds lasted them several weeks. One pound, and a story about Sam being Casey's guardian, got them a room at a boarding house in a middle-class section of town, with a bed for Casey, a couch that Sam could sleep on, and a folding room divider for privacy. This was expensive for one room, but the landlady, Mrs. Fitzsimmons, kept it clean. Board was included, along with the knowledge that their room was not rented out in shifts to other people. They