The Under Review - Issue 4 | Summer 2021

64
Bonus Days
AMY ZARANEK
In basketball, a team goes into the bonus when their opponent reaches a foul limit. They are awarded a free throw
for each foul that follows: a reward for weathering physicality, a chance to improve their odds.
“These are bonus days,” my dad said on every nice day past November in our hometown in metro Detroit.
The sky clear and sunny, the temperature above fifty, the days were just that: bonuses. Sailboats dotted
the lake, dashing past fishermen on the piers who in any other weather would’ve been swamped by
crashing, freezing waves. Those days, we went outside like our lives depended on it. Like if we didn’t, the
sun might not come up again.
A former college basketball player, Dad drilled me on the half-court in our backyard. Our shoes crunched
on acorns that sent the ball bouncing erratically with each dribble. Dad never played easy against me, even
when I was a child. When I decided to focus on softball, he learned everything about the sport—the
nuance of pitching, the mechanics of power hitting, daily workout regimens. Bonus days on the court
changed to bonus days of Dad sitting on an overturned five-gallon bucket, glove outstretched. I pitched
until my chest burned with cold air and effort. He coached me to a college scholarship of my own.
But it was more than sports to us: during those days, we talked about my classmates, my goals, which
subjects I struggled with, which electives I loved. We made up goofy songs on the way to the field. Through
bonus days, my dad became my best friend.
The referee holds up an index finger on each hand: one-and-one. The crowd goes silent. The shooter tiptoes the
foul line for the first shot, reaching toward the rim as if clinging to possibility.
On a Friday night in January, after my athletic career was over, Dad kept score at the high school
basketball team’s rivalry game. With seconds left in halftime, he crossed the court with concessions and
collapsed. Cardiac arrest.
He had no symptoms; his heart simply stopped. After rounds of CPR, an athletic trainer, an AED, and an
ambulance saved his life for the first time.
THE UNDER REVIEW