During Karen M.'s deposition, our lawyer Andrea had asked her exactly who was present in the office on the afternoon I collected P. from Dilworth Elementary -- on the day of the culminating incident that led up to the lawsuit. Karen M. had responded with refreshing honesty. To be fair, she had included the falsehood that P. had run into a window frame and bumped her head, but in terms of those present, she was truthful. She mentioned that she herself, Heather D., the behaviorist, Sandy J., the therapist, I, and my four children were present.
During the trial, however, we witnessed the miraculous apparition of Colleen N., patron saint of child abusers, who retroactively materialized from the ether at the eleventh hour to save the day. According to Karen M. in her trial testimony, Colleen N. was in the office that day, and Colleen and I had stood side by side and watched as P. ran into a window frame and bashed her head. Karen M. added some embellishments to try to make the story seem more plausible. Colleen had left her purse on the floor of the office and P. had trampled it. The implication was obvious: I was a terrible person who had decided to use my child's accident to sue a poor, innocent schoolteacher.
