Short Story, Flash, Theme Prompt, Writing Prompts

The Jury

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Written for Muse on Monday where David
has asked us to write a story about giving
someone bad news. Here’s my take.

Image by Me & Copilot

Donald had been rehearsing the speech for ten minutes in the break room, pacing between the microwave and the recycling bin, muttering to himself.

It was now or never.

He walked back into the open office, cleared his throat, and waited for the cluster of faces to turn toward him. Twelve people. Twelve hungry people who had each contributed five dollars to the FPF …. Friday Pizza Fund. Twelve people who had been smelling that pepperoni for the last hour while they ground through budget reports.

“So,” Donald began. “I want to start by saying that I have tremendous respect for each of you.”

A few eyebrows went up.

“And I want you to know that what happened today was nobody’s fault. These things just… happen. In workplaces. Across the world.”

Phyllis from R&D slowly set down her stapler.

“The pizza,” Donald said, “is gone. The facts are a little sketchy but it seems that Sal from IT ate the last four slices during the shift change.”

The silence lasted exactly three seconds.

Then all twelve people stood up simultaneously, pushed in their chairs with quiet, eerie calm, and filed toward the IT department in a single wordless procession.

It was not going to end well for Sal, but pizza is pizza.

NAR©2026

This is “Angry” by The Rolling Stones ft. Sydney Sweeney

Muse on Monday – March 2, 2026

Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.



38 thoughts on “The Jury”

    1. I’m so glad this made you laugh, David. My husband and I watched 12 Angry Men two weeks ago and the movie must have been in my subconscious. I could never dream of writing anything as brilliant as that script, but I hoped the beginning of my story came across as something more serious than pizza! Thanks for your excellent comments and for an intriguing prompt.

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