A Good Death

The friend cannot believe the bizarre behaviour of the mother, and the mother cannot believe the friend would get in her way when she knows she's right.  They will end up in the court room, but even when the judge picks a winner, the battle won't be over...

The beginning is a court room, where a mother attends without a lawyer in order to argue that her daughter should be given to her custody, so the mother can take the daughter back to Alberta.  The mother's application is opposed by the daughter's best friend.  The daughter was severely injured in a hit and run accident, and is now diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state - mother thinks it's really "locked in syndrome".  The best friend was appointed as the daughter's substitute decision maker for personal care, and there are directions to the friend by the daughter, when she was capable, to pull the plug if she's being kept alive by artificial means.

It's complicated by the fact that the mother and daughter were estranged for fifteen years before the accident, and the best friend was the one who called the mother to the scene, because that's what she would've wanted.

The mother is a hard core fundamentalist Christian.  The daughter ran away after coming out as a lesbian to her family.  The friend has no particular religion, but she's more of an agnostic than an atheist. 

The mother will do anything to get her way; she's not used to being thwarted. 

The friend will do anything to do right by her friend, but what does that mean, exactly?

I agree with Amy of the Lakes. Go, go, go!

Can't wait to hear more about the storyline.