Even a positive character like the Shopkeeper of the radio play Old Man Kalina (Olanda, again?) ‘collects’ the Politician who is charmed into abandoning a once promising career (he had hopes of even becoming PM some day) to become a janitor-c*m-nightwatchman, living in the dusty backroom of her provincial general store. Whether or not the narrative curve of the drama is from true-belief to openness, from action to love, the attitude of the Shopkeeper seems predatory, unhealthily possessive: ‘He also ought to have some better gloves, and a cap,’ she says, beginning to dress him up for his new reality, as if he were a new doll she’d just received:
I’ve got this old papakha from Dad, and some warm blue padded coats — the kind that navvies wear. And fleece-filled rubber galoshes. They’ll fit
