Chapter 40 Funk (One)

• The atmosphere in Ryan Harris’s was a really tense one. The servants moved around quietly, trying their best to stay out of their master's way, for Ryan had never seemed as scary as he did to them as he had in the two weeks following his sister’s death. It wasn’t as though he maltreated them, or anything like that. No, that was far from the case, but the actual situation was even worse. Ever since the burial two weeks ago, Ryan refused to talk to anyone and got this disturbing, spaced-out look in his eyes. All he ever did was visit the hospital in which Sandra’s babies were still battling for their lives in the babies’ intensive care unit, and her husband was on life support.
• As soon as he got back from the hospital, he proceeded to lock himself in his study and drink himself into a stupor. For such a formerly lively man, it was a disturbing behavior indeed. Only Margie, the housekeeper, was allowed into the study, or more precisely, could allow herself into the study, because she had a key. Each evening, she had the cook prepare the tastiest dishes, and let herself into the study to serve the food to Ryan. On these occasions, he never responded to her when she spoke to him, so she had stopped trying, and only left the food for him.
• He would eat only a small portion of the food, preferring to stuff his tummy with alcohol. By the time Margie came in later in the night to clear the plates she had used to give him food, she would find that he had eaten very little of it, and had fallen asleep sprawled on a couch by the fireplace. He never slept in his bedroom anymore. Each new day, the same pattern was repeated, and it was indeed worrying to his house helps, who knew him to be a lively and friendly employee. These traits had diminished a lot after his divorce, something that was quite understandable, but now, they were practically nonexistent.