Foreign Talent

I am inspired today to write about talent because recently, I was enthralled by an old friend of mine.

I'm a sucker for men who can play the piano.

Stanley my sex bunny friend, meanwhile, is a sucker for men.

The said talented friend was at a house party years ago, before the world had to stop shaking hands and wearing face masks was as second-nature as putting on panties before leaving the house. 

Well, for most of us, at least. 

But back to the house party.

There was a grand piano in that lovely home, which was the main feature of that new home. 

The host, himself a theatrical practitioner, had asked his guests to tinkle at his plaything.

Stanley leaned in and whispered in my ear: "If he were a little thinner, I would love to tinkle his plaything."

But I didn't have time to entertain Stanley.

The true entertainment was already starting.

The man at the piano was playing one of my favourite tunes - a Cantonese ballad composed by local musician Dick Lee but made famous by the late-Leslie Cheung.

Not only that, the guest pianist was belting out the song with feeling, his vocals clear and flawless.

By the end of the song, everyone - including the theatrical host - gave the pianist a rousing applause.

Carl our dense friend, who has a penchant for clapping to express his emotions, joined in with glee.

Then Carl stood up from the pianist seat and bowed to his fellow housewarming guests.

Though Carl is slow to most things, he's undoubtedly very talented.

It's like, the moment he plays the piano, he has this magical ability to slow the whole world down to a pace that is in step with his dense brain.

And when Carl opens his mouth to sing, he makes people want to fall in love.

Stanley argues that when he opens his mouth to show off his talent, people would also want to fall in love.

But let's stick to Carl first.

Every time we go to E-bar at Tanjong Pagar (God bless that place -- we will always love it), which is Carl's favourite gay KTV pub in the whole universe, fellow guests would appreciatively quiet down whenever Carl starts singing.

And that's one musical talent I will never have but always dream of having.

In fact, I have no talent whatsoever - the concept of being gifted is very foreign to me.

My partner J on the other hand, is the opposite of me.

He's from an artistically-inclined family, having received musical training since young.

J and his two older brothers had been coached to play the organ from the age of four.

J would say he's only "so so" in his skills while his older brothers are the true talents, one of whom composes while the other is excellent with musical arrangement.

When J's grandmother died, the three of them combined forces to string together a series of their granny's favourite songs, and played them on the organ during her funeral mass.

In the sphere of the straight world, I'm also surrounded by people dripping with talent.

Nisa my best girl friend is effectively bilingual and is one of the region's best translators, having bagged a few essay awards at the national level, when we were students.

Terry my best straight friend meanwhile, has the creativity of a respectable gay man.

He's an excellent artist and can paint life-like portraits.

And like Nisa, Terry has a few national awards under his belt.

Not to be left out, Stanley my sex bunny friend also has talents under his belt. 

Like, literally.

He has the gift of the gap - an orifice so magical that it's trapped the parts and hearts of many men who've dared to venture there.

But Stanley also has the gift of the gab - he's quick witted, articulate, and very linguistic.

In university, Stanley minored in Japanese which he was very proficient in.

In his later years, Stanley revealed he chose Japanese so that he could fully appreciate all that's said in Jap porn films.

But Stanley would brush off his talents, preferring that we recognise his other talents.

"I have a gift - when I see a man, I can see through his jeans and can tell you intimate details of his member just by looking," he would say.

"Besides, Adam, you're not too bad yourself," Stanley said as a consolation to his talentless friend.

"You have a gift for choosing friends and surrounding yourself with people who're talented."

"Plus, in life, it's not about having multiple talents that's important."

"To me, having multiple orgasms is the true meaning of life. That can solve all problems," Stanley the sex bunny says wisely.

---------------------------

Adam's stories are based on real life events and inspired by real people