A Mother's Trial (49 page)
Both Joey and Sarah Wrigley were members of the class in the class action suit that had been filed against Syntex, and the Chicago lawyer handling the case had asked Pat Wrigley to obtain Sarah’s Kaiser records, still being held in the clerk’s office at the Marin County Civic Center. At the same time, Pat hoped to retrieve the photographs of Mindy as a baby that had also been entered as evidence. Sarah had often stared at the baby pictures that had been taken of her brother and sister, but the records of her own past were barred to her by the criminal justice system. It would be difficult—requiring a court order, Pat discovered—to recover that evidence from the Marin County clerk.
Meanwhile, every once in a while, in an effort to keep memories fresh, Pat Wrigley sat down with Sarah to retell the story that had become as familiar to the little girl as her nightly prayers. It was a story that from the beginning Sarah could participate in.
“Once upon a time there was a little girl in Korea who had a foster mother. And the little girl’s name was—?”
“Seo Yun Kim,” said Sarah.
“And her foster mother loved her very much. Then the little girl came to America and lived with the Phillips family. And her name was—?”
“Mindy Leanne Phillips,” Sarah supplied.
“And she had two brothers named Erik and Jason. Now her name is—?”
“Sarah Kim Wrigley.”
“Yes, and she has a mommy and daddy and a sister, Becky, and a brother, Joey, and they love her very much.” Pat looked down at the little girl beside her—the most affectionate and expressive of her children. Then she ended the story as she always did.
“And all her mommies and daddies and brothers and sisters have loved her very much.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nancy Wright, a native of New York, graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and subsequently taught high-school English in Richmond, California for ten years. Shortly before publication of
A Mother’s Trial,
she and her family moved to Southern California. She has been a screenwriter and subsequently a real estate broker in the Los Angeles area, where she also volunteers as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for foster children. She may be reached at
[email protected]
.
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