The Palace Boys

I have a friend who has shared lovers with the Sultan of Oman.

Opportunist lovers hang about the Palace gates in darkness. The Sultan presents himself to the gathering of Muslim boys offering their virginity and subservience to him in return for a sports car. Opportunist agents hang about the Sultan's hand-picked lovers offering hard cash for the car at a value considerably less than the dollars the Sultan has parted with in procuring the sports car. Opportunist auto enthusiasts hang about the agents offering hard cash for the car at a higher value the agents offered the lovers, but lower than the dollars the Sultan has parted with in procuring the sports car.

In this game the Sultan is being dicked... in more ways than one.

My friend is not an opportunist. He does not hang about picking off the Sultan's discarded lovers for himself to enjoy.

Homosexuality is rampant in Gulf countries. Sexual relationships with Muslim women are off limits until their wedding night. Men seek sexual gratification with men until they acquire a wife. It is an accepted societal norm.

My friend has lost lovers to new wives. He ends a homosexual affair when his lover marries.

My friend has ex-lovers from Saudi Arabia visit him in his home in neighbouring Oman.

One night two weeks ago, an ex-lover from Saudi Arabia with his sons paid my friend a visit, bringing him news of Sunni and Shi'ite tensions within Saudi Arabia necessitating Shi’ite's to emigrate in increasing numbers to other Gulf countries. Such news from Saudi Arabia only spreads through trusted intimate personal networks. News whispered to the wrong person could incur a severed limb or death.

My friend and his lovers enjoy a reciprocal exchange of luxury goods. The night after the visit from the ex-lover of Saudi Arabia, my friend invited me to his home to pick on the remains of lobster and crayfish from the Sultan's Palace. A lover working in the Sultan's kitchen ate this culinary fare and drank red wine with my friend earlier in the evening. If not red wine, and if without friends dealing in the black market, Omani's drink cologne for its intoxicant effects.

A young Omani man pointed out the Sultan's new personal luxury liner to me. It was anchored in the Muttrah harbour next to the Sultan's other seemingly identical luxury liner.

"The Sultan has no heir and we are worried what will happen to Oman when he dies. He doesn't come out in public anymore and he watches us from his helicopter. He spends money on himself and his own pleasure. He is gay and spends his money on his lovers. We are worried."

This young Omani man was not married.

Wouldn’t it be a sterling coup if this young Omani man could dick the Sultan of his new personal luxury liner?