Hiring & Firing: Reading from #JFTRE29

Jonnie Fazoolie’s latest venture is teetering on the edge of collapse. Fertile Descent LLC — his latest paper tiger of a company — needs more than smoke, mirrors, and Jonnie’s mile-wide grin to stay afloat. To pull off the scam of his career, he decides to bring in someone who can actually do the work: a real scientist with credentials so heavy they could sink him.

That’s when Dr. Amaranth “Casey” Floyd walks through the rickety door. Short, stocky, and carrying the weight of an enormous Afro and a resume stacked with Stanford, Caltech, and MIT, Casey is the polar opposite of Jonnie’s slick, fast-talking persona. The Professor is brilliant, reclusive, and allergic to bullshit — everything Jonnie is not.

From the first moment, their dynamic is volatile. Jonnie tries his usual tricks: cheesy jokes, offensive questions, and cocky one-liners. Casey meets every word with silence, side-eyes, and barely contained rage. As Jonnie pushes harder — poking at Their identity, underestimating Their intelligence, and arrogantly assuming he’s in control — the tension reaches critical mass.

The interview spirals into a full-blown confrontation. Papers fly, chairs scrape, and fists swing as the genius and the hustler collide. For Jonnie, this is more than a hiring meeting — it’s survival. He needs Casey’s brain to give his scam a fighting chance, but he’s too proud to back down. For Casey, it’s a test of how much idiocy can be tolerated before snapping, begging the question of why the "deal" is even being considered. 

The reading delivers raw energy, sharp dialogue, and the moment where two combustible personalities ignite — turning a simple job interview into all-out combat. It’s a clash of ego versus expertise, charm versus contempt, and a partnership that starts with a fight… and ends with the design and development of none other than the Transfinite Reality Engine.

The Novel

Jonnie Fazoolie & the Transfinite Reality Engine

First Reading

Alice Unchained

Next Reading

Fighting Solves Everything