Autobiography of Red

Geryon is in his hotel room developing photographs. He has long asked the question, “What is time made of?” and asks it to many people he encounters. Geryon thinks about the yellowbeard’s answer yesterday, about time being “an abstraction,” and it bothers him. Just then, Geryon looks at the wall clock and sees that it’s almost 6:00.

Geryon accompanies the yellowbeard and the other philosophers to a bar 10 minutes later. The yellowbeard proudly leads the pack. At the bar, Geryon talks with another philosopher named Lazer. Lazer and Geryon discuss God, doubt, and skepticism. Lazer offers Geryon some of his olives and talks about his four-year-old daughter. He explains how children make a person “see distances.” He recalls writing in his journal as his daughter stood next to him, drawing pictures. They were outside, surrounded by acacia trees. He saw the shadow of a bird flit past, which made him ruminate how he is on one side of a hill, making his descent, while he watches his daughter start her own climb.

Lazer gets up to leave and tells Geryon he has enjoyed their conversation. Geryon remains behind and listens to the other philosophers talk. Hearing their conversations and political jokes makes him grin broadly. Then, just as Geryon realizes he’s starving, a platter of sandwiches appears, which he decides is a “miracle.” Geryon professes himself to be a “philosopher of sandwiches,” of “things good on the inside.”

Back at his hotel room that night, Geryon takes a black-and-white photograph of himself naked and in the fetal position, his wings spread wide across the bed. “No Tail!” he titles it.