Here's another chapter from Jonnie Fazoolie & the Transfinite Reality Engine, delivered with barbed wit and raw relish by author Mookie Spitz. In this episode, “Piddle of a Riddle,” the balcony becomes a high-altitude theater for a twisted battle of wits, egos, and dangerously misplaced affections.
Jonnie — a jittery cocktail of narcissism, ADHD, hypochondria, and wingsuit bravado — corners Penny with a logic game designed to tease out her truths (or catch her in lies). His idea of foreplay is a smug philosophical riddle. Her idea of fun is definitely not indulging a bouffant-haired adrenaline junkie who’s constantly high, half-drunk, and covered in cat dander.
As Jonnie paces, rants, and literally suits up in purple ripstop nylon, Penny can’t help wondering why she’s still here — until she realizes the absurd thrill is what she secretly craves. The cat named BS, vomiting hairballs and nesting on Penny’s lap, acts as a furry accomplice to Jonnie's mind games. Meanwhile, Jonnie tries to keep his balance — physically and mentally— through dizzy spells, erratic heartbeats, and a desperate need to be loved (or at least noticed).
FInally in a glorious crescendo of recklessness, Johnny vaults onto the balcony rail, camera rolling, logic puzzle “won,” and launches himself in a wingsuited freefall 100 stories down, leaving Penny with her notebook, her secondhand embarrassment, and maybe — just maybe — a twinge of curiosity about what it would be like to dive off life’s ledge right alongside him.
Tune in if you want your fiction as messy, magnetic, and dangerously addictive as Jonnie Fazoolie himself. Listen in to the series, where every reading teeters between high art and total disaster.
The Novel
Jonnie Fazoolie & the Transfinite Reality Engine
First Reading
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