I loved this couple.
I said "love" in past tense because Mrs Sprat is no more. Of course, Sprat is not their real name.
I thought of the nursery rhyme line: "Jack Sprat could eat no fat, His wife could eat no lean", the first time they walked into my consultation room in 2002.
What struck me was the great difference in their sizes.
Mr Sprat was very lean and Mrs Sprat was a whale; and I say that with no disrespect intended, but with affection.
She weighed in at 131 kg. For her petite height, she should have ideally been less than 55 kg.
They were a loving pair. Mrs Sprat had the most beautiful serene face and Mr Sprat the most adoring one. Not surprisingly, Mrs Sprat had a whole host of metabolic conditions: diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and bad knees, but she was always ever cheerful.
And so my heart fell when Mr Sprat came by recently after a brief absence to say that his wife had passed on a month ago.
"Oh, what of?" I asked, taking deep breaths (a trick I learnt that will stop me from crying).
I thought he would tell me it was a stroke or a heart attack, but he said, "flesh-eating bacteria". He wasn't able to give me more details except that she fought for her life for a month in the intensive care unit.
I searched his face and only saw stoicism.
The room seemed so big now, without his other half to fill all that space she used to – with her largeness and her lovely spirit.