Orbiting Jupiter

by Gary D. Schmidt

Because he loved her. He loved her. He had never known love before. He had never known how much it could fill him. He had never known anything, he thought.

How they could be quiet with each other. How holding her hand warmed everything in him. How he sometimes still felt her hand.

Joseph screamed again. Not even words this time. He screamed at his father like something had ripped deep inside him.

I had his back. And he had mine. That’s what greater love is.