Asher ✓

52 | hope

OCTOBER 3, 2018  / OLIVETTI'S CAFE AND BISTRO

"Interview with Asher Delrov commenced October 3rd at 12:19," the reporter, Tallulah Zhang, voiced into her phone as she began a new sound recording.

Asher and Tallulah were nestled into the corner booth of an up-and-coming new cafe. Popular enough to get good reviews, not so popular that it would be too loud for an interview for MX Magazine.

Tallulah placed her phone on the table, picking up her mug of coffee. "So Asher, the last time you did an interview for MX, you were featured as a promising rider. What sort of things have changed in your life since then?"

"Straight into the loaded questions then," Asher quipped, taking a long sip of his own drink.

Tallulah's eyes twinkled humourously, mirroring the gleaming piercing through her left eyebrow. "Naturally. That's the reporter way, isn't it?"

"Fair point," Asher returned her warm smile. "Well, I was a teenager at the time of my last interview. If I remember which one it was correctly, I went on to win the state-wide Grand Prix in the 450cc class. Then, I got into an accident, lost my leg, gained some great friends and now I'm the CEO of my own prosthetic start-up company."

"Your accident rocked the motocross community here in New York. I remember how everyone seemed, collectively at least, devastated at the loss of potential you had. What do you think about how the public responded to your accident?"

"The public did as the public does. At the time, it pissed me off. So damn much."

Tallulah's eyebrow twitched upwards, the corner of her lip lifting in amusement at his profanity. She was glad, though, that they could talk like they were old friends.

"Now," Asher continued, "I don't mind how invasive they were, or the awful headlines the tabloids came up with. Well — actually, I do mind — but now I can understand it. Teenage motocross prodigy hides medical condition to compete, gets bitten in the ass by karma. Journalistic gold, right?"

She shrugged. "It's a shiny story, sure, but I would have expected you and your family to be treated with more sensitivity at such a dark time. But, back you what you mentioned — do you believe in karma?"

"Hmm. Good question. I'm not sure about karma." 

Ekaterina's face, his first broken bone, the cemetery in his hometown, the petroleum smell of his father's repair shop and Ryanel's forgiving grin flashed in Asher's mind all of a sudden.

"I certainly don't believe that people get what they deserve. Good people deserve more than they ever get and bad people get more than they ever deserve."

"Preach," Tallulah affirmed.

"And as the whole world kind of knows now, I've spent my whole life being buffeted this way and that by the universe — though whether I deserved it is up for debate," Asher joked self-deprecatingly.

Tallulah scoffed, taking another sip. Her deep brown eyes peered over the rim of her coffee mug in a way that seemed to tell Asher just how much she admired him, and believed he deserved more good things in his life. 

Asher continued, "But I do think good things come to those who work for them. Whether that's physical labour, emotional generosity, or spiritual work."