Cereus Blooms At Night

Part 2 begins with another aside to the reader from Tyler, in which he notes that he would relish the opportunity to detail the burgeoning relationship between himself and Otoh Mohanty, but will instead focus on Mala’s story since it is the most important. In acknowledging Otoh, he prepares the reader for the next section of the story, which focuses on Otoh and his part in Mala’s tale. Otoh was assigned female at birth to Ambrose Mohanty and his wife Elsie. While they named him Ambrosia, he and his family realized he was a boy early in life, and his nickname, Otoh (“other”), refers to his general inability to make decisions.

Every month since before Otoh was born, Ambrose has been delivering a package of dried goods, food, and supplies to Mala, affectionately referred to as The Bird. This arrangement displeases Elsie, but Ambrose is nonconfrontational to a fault, so she is unable to argue with him about it. Ambrose sleeps for the entire month, waking only on the first Saturday to prepare the delivery. Otoh has been the one dropping off the supplies ever since the day Ambrose slipped while carrying a bag of rice and fractured his pelvis, leaving him wheelchair-bound.