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purchased some inexpensive clothes–pants, suspenders, shirt, vest, jacket and bowler hat for Sam, and for Casey, a skirt, blouse, bloomers, petticoat, camisole, and a large, ugly hat with feathers that the shopkeeper insisted was a favorite of the "best ladies." Casey horrified the shopkeeper by refusing to buy or wear a corset.
    They decided that Casey's cloak was neutral enough in style for her to wear, as were her boots, but Sam bought a used overcoat to replace his Kevlar rain jacket. He also bought a pair of shoes and a toothbrush. Casey had a toothbrush in her backpack, along with toothpaste, shrugging at Sam's astonished expression.
     "Sometimes, I stayed at a friend's place overnight, which I obviously should have done instead of walking home last night. It's not such a dumb thing."
    Sam didn't think it was dumb at all, and realized that of all the teenage girls who could have stumbled into his experiment, he may have lucked out with the one he got. She seemed to have a good head on her shoulders. She didn't waste time on panic or hysterics, preferring to get on with the task of surviving.
    But she was far from okay. Until the battery ran out on her cell phone, Sam would often catch her sitting on the floor in their room, staring blankly at the pictures or messages stored on it. And although she tried to be quiet about it, when she went to bed and the lights were out, he could hear her cry.
    ~~~
    Steady work did not come easily. Sam found occasional temporary positions that lasted for a day or two. He grumbled about “age discrimination,” but there was nothing to be done about it. Casey suggested he try teaching, perhaps at a technical school or even one of the public schools for young children. It turned out, though, that teaching was one profession where past experience and good references were important. And the one reference they had was not to be found, as Casey discovered a couple of weeks later, when Sam arrived for dinner just as the other boarders were starting to eat. She noticed that he looked upset, but let it go until they returned to their room.
    “You look like you had a bad day,” she said.
    He sat on the sofa, leaned back and stared at the ceiling. “Aye, you could call it that.” He said nothing else, and Casey waited until he continued, with a shake of his head. “Riley’s left town.”
    “Riley?” She didn’t know what to make of that information. “Where’d he go?”
    His gaze shifted to her. She realized he was really angry. “The official word from the university is that he’s on sabbatical. They wouldn’t tell me where he went or even if the sabbatical had been planned, or taken suddenly. My guess is, it’s sudden. I think he took off like a bat out of hell.”
    “Because of us?”
    “Hell yes, because of us!” Sam curved his hands in front of him, as he if wanted to choke someone, reminding Casey that she didn’t know him very well. Then he dropped his hands, more sad than angry. “I don’t understand it. Why such fear, Casey?” He looked bewildered. “I ask myself how I would have felt if people from the future had shown up on my doorstep. Like you said, considering my work, it was a real possibility. I hope…” he shook his head again, “…that I would have reacted with more professional curiosity. And courtesy.”
    “Well, screw ‘im,” Casey said.
    “What?” Sam asked, with a startled laugh.
    “If he’s that afraid, he’ll be nothing but trouble. We’re better off with him gone.”
    “Except he was a reference for us. That’s what caused all the bloody trouble, today. One of the employers I talked to had tried to call Riley and get a personal reference, but found out he was gone, with no warning and no expected date of return. It didn’t look good and he turned me down for the job.” Sam’s lips tightened, his anger back. “You’re right, though. We’ll do it without his help. And I’m going to do what I should have done all