Clean, perfumed, dressed in cool cotton pants and shirts, I walked next to Khalid while he rode in splendor in a wheelchair pushed by a youngster he said was a cousin. We went down a series of hallways I said was a maze and he agreed. Said it was that way to the old sheikhs harem and designed that way to protest the women from casual encounters. Of course, if you’d been caught in those rooms, gelding was the least of your problems.
Guards with automatic weapons were everywhere. I learned that it was because these were the Sheikhs apartments.
I expected something out of the Arabian Nights; what I found was a typical English upper class study, living room, and office down to the top of the line computer and big screen plasma TV.
The Sheikh was seated on the couch in robes and he smiled as he saw my face. “I find it more comfortable in the mountains,” he explained. He rose and took my hands, bowed again. “My dear boys, Khalid, how are you? Your doctor said you are healing.”
“I’m okay, dad,” he said and kissed him on both cheeks. A beautiful woman walked in from the doorway in the rear and on her hurried steps, reached Khalid, and hugged him fiercely. She was dark haired with lush, exotic gray eyes, and porcelain skin. Almost as tall as me, nearly six foot and in her early forties. She turned to me and regarded me openly, staring particularly at my eyes.
“Aidan. Thank you,” she said simply. “Khalid is my life and my joy.”
“He’s my friend,” I shrugged.
“How old are you?”
“Sixteen.”
“How old are you?” she persisted.
“I was born in 1956,” I murmured.
“Your eyes are so wise, compassionate and aged well beyond what your face states,” she nodded. “Rashid, this child is truly an old soul. He has been born and died many lifetimes. He is a treasure and we should honor him.”
She bowed with her hands together and kissed my forehead. Khalid watched with his mouth hanging open and I kicked him.
“Would you like something to eat and drink, boys?” she asked. “Please, sit. It is my pleasure to wait on you.”
I blushed. “My Lady, I should be waiting on you. You’re a…Queen.”
She laughed. “Just a minor Sheikhs wife. What would my two boys like to do?”
Khalid looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “Want to sight-see? We can go in the helicopter to the city.”
“I’ve always wanted to see the Bazaar,” I drooled. They laughed.
“More like Neiman Marcus and Saks,” he grinned. “This is the Sultanate of Dubai, not the back alleys of Marrakesh.”
“No camels? No houris with kohl and slanted eyes?” I teased. “No hashish pipes and eunuchs with big curved swords?”
“Only if you want them,” they promised me. “Whatever you want is yours. What is in my house is yours.”
“I’ll settle for a Coke and a sandwich,” I grinned. “And whatever Khalid wants to do is fine with me.”
He opted for a day spent by the pool. It was an Olympic sized beauty with a high dive but he wasn’t allowed on it. He squinted when I scrambled up like a monkey and dove off without a tremor of fear. Why would I? I loved climbing things and one of my new ambitions was to climb the Dubai Needle. I didn’t tell anyone that, I’m not totally crazy.
After an hour of climbing up and jumping off, I dragged myself over to the lounge chair and sank into it, dripping onto Khalid. He threw his ice cubes at me. “Hey,” he complained. “You’re in my sun.”
“You think your tan needs work?” I teased, closing my eyes. “Too bad we don’t have one of those servants with the palm fronds waving.”
“I can get some.”
“Naw, I’m good.” I paused. “You gonna go back, Khalid? Finish?”
He was still. “What happened to me is not culturally as bad as if I was a girl, Aid. It’s something I’ll never forget but it won’t break me. I had a relationship with a cousin a few years before. Enjoyed it but it proved to me I like girls better.
“You---it would have scarred you forever.”
“How do you know that?” I was curious.
“I just do. Something in your eyes. Now, take a nap. I have some serious tanning to do.” I shoved him into the water and ran.