JAPANAMOTHER
Among the people whom the Molotov orphanage kids respected, and who was considered to be the kindest among us, even though he looked rather cold, was the caretaker Tomas Karlovich, an Estonian devil. This tall, sturdy old man was given the strange nickname of Japanamother by the boys. When I first came to the ward, I heard a lot of strange stories about old Tomas, which initially I did not believe at all.
The old man did not wear shirts, only sweaters with high collars. He could be wearing a jacket, waistcoat or coat – anything, but only over a sweater. The boys said that under this sweater he had fantastic and fabulous tattoos, which were made in colored ink by real Japanese “banzais”.
There was a legend that he had lived in Japan, in an institution like ours, but for pris
