LOS ANGELES -- SIX-AND-A-HALF-YEAR-OLD Glenn Rivers sensed something was amiss the moment he skipped into his grandmother's house.
It was suppertime, and his father, Grady Rivers, a longtime Chicago police officer, was there. The father, who was scheduled to be on duty, who patrolled the night shift, never missed a day of work. Yet there he was, slumped in a chair in full uniform, huddled around the small black-and-white television set with Glenn's aunts and uncles.
As Rivers inched closer, he saw his father was sobbing.
"I had never seen my dad cry before," Rivers says.