Beneficial Life

In 1950’s Baltimore, the breadman, the milkman, salesmen, and creditors sold their wares and collected what was owed, in person. Helena Sinclair was expecting Evan Monahan, North American Beneficial Life and Casualty Insurance Company’s top agent, to collect the May premium on the life insurance policy she had on her husband, Russell. The only problem was she did not have the money, and she was frantic. Helena was obsessed with life insurance and feared if anything happened to the love of her life-heaven forbid-she would be destitute like some of her neighbors and church members who had lost their breadwinners. But it was getting harder to pay the premium since Russell had started gambling and spending a lot of time at the Oasis, a neighborhood bar. Evan, who Helena called the gray-eyed monster, had a solution to her problem. Reluctantly, Helena accepted Evan’s help, but as it turned out, he wasn’t who he presented himself to be.