Hank

Hank is one of the former bosses of Isaac Heller before he becomes the Author. He appears in "Operation Mongoose, Part 1".

Before the Curse
The husband turns to his wife and questions if they really need a color television, but Isaac soon steps into frame and questions in turn what his potential customer has just said. There is tinsel and other Christmas decorations about, as well as a Christmas song playing in the background. He asks if they should have to settle for what came before and wonders if they don't want to really see the world, for it's a complicated place and its people are complex creatures; their interior lives are painted with so many hues and shades, and the Zenith Marseille Color TV brings the profound complications of the universe right into your living room. "Does it have a clicker?" the man asks simply, which confuses Isaac. The customer reiterates his enquiry, miming the action of changing the channel to make clear just what it is he's referring to, and another nearby salesman - Hank - holds up just such an item as he reveals that it's actually called a "space command remote". He hands it to the man and tells him that it's included in the price, leading the latter to say that now they're talking. Hank sees the lightning tattoo on his customer's arm and realizes that he was a Ranger, which the man confirms, adding that he was in the 25th Infantry Division. He asks if Hank was in the service as well, and he answers positively, revealing himself to have been a part of 187th Airborne, Company A - and he and his comrades heard a lot about this customer's unit.

He commends him on being a real hero, before suggesting that he and his wife take the TV and its space command remote out on a "test drive" to see how it feels, and they seem to like this idea; Hank then turns to Isaac and grimaces, gesturing for him to meet him in the back room of the store. Isaac flashes one last grin at the couple before walking away with his boss, who asks him what the hell he was doing. "Rambling on about weird technical crap? You're supposed to be selling!" Isaac insists that he was, but Hank disagrees, saying that what his employee was really doing was sending them across the street to Gimbels. He reminds him that he hired him because he said he wanted to be a writer, and Isaac insists that he is one. However, Hank makes clear that the stacks of rejected manuscripts in the break room don't count; "But I figured you knew something about telling stories - that's how you sell! But now I get why you don't have a picture on the back of a book yet: you don't tell stories people want." The presumable store manager straightens his suit before re-approaching the middle aged couple, while Isaac appears shaken by what's just been said to him. He begins to sort through his pile of mail, and soon discovers an envelope from a publishing company, suggesting to himself that what Hank told him is about to change. The letter within is torn out, and Isaac decreases it. It's from Star Publishing, and according to what they've written they'd like to meet with him - the addressee - immediately. Isaac is deeply excited.