It's hard to know how to describe Gene Weingarten's piece in the Washington Post's magazine, except to say that it is one of the most heart-breaking, moving, humane, pieces of journalism I've read in years. And one of the best. In a sense, mind you, even saying that trivialises the story.
It's about how a parent can inadvertently leave their toddler in the back of their car on a hot day to swelter and, god help us, bake to death. And it's about how a parent can ever hope to come to any sort of terms with the consequences of such a desperate, fatal, mistake.