Hendricks brings news of one of the 'water activities' Brody has asked for ('a bunch of boy scouts out in April Bay doing their mile swim for their merit badges') and the chief immediately devolves responsibility for the sign making to the deputy - with the proviso that Polly does the printing. Hendricks's sulky response ('What's the matter with my printing?') is one of several moments in the movie that identifies his character as a man-child, well-meaning but naive. Brody gets into the jeep from the passenger side and sidles over on his rear to get behind the wheel. It's an ungainly action, but it serves to save precious seconds of screen time and the need for a repositioning of the camera. Besides, if you look at movies from the Forties and Fifties, it seemed to be common enough practice. Detective Arbogast does it, for example, in Psycho when he returns to the Bates Motel even though he is exiting the vehicle.
As Brody drives away, a voice off-screen calls 'Hey, chief' and there is a cut to a dapper looking man emerging from one of the buildings across the street. Mayor Larry Vaughn is the third and final member of Amity's political triumvirate to be introduced in this fashion. Coming down the steps behind him are the medical examiner and Meadows, who is in conversation with a Teamster-looking type next to be seen at the town hall meeting. Clearly, the powers-that-be have taken no time in getting into a huddle to discuss strategy. On the porch a young woman in a green shirt and yellow slacks is wrapping patriotic bunting of red, white and blue around one of the building's columns. Vaughn calls again after the departing police vehicle and this time his tone has an edge to it. The brief expression of thwarted authority that crosses the mayor's face as one of his public servants fails to heed his call tells us everything we need to know about this scheming politician.
In a reverse shot we see Hendricks crossing the street, laden down with the sign making equipment, and the mayor joins him at the centre of the intersection just as the local marching band swings past on a practice run. The deputy has to shout over the noise in order to make himself heard. It's both an aural and visual representation of the movie's dilemma: the two men are surrounded by organised jollity and as the band plays on no one takes any heed of the potential threat.
