Elian's Week

By Elaine Shannon/Washington

The image might have come straight from suburbia: a wiry six-year-old boy hops on a two-wheeled bike for the very first time. He gets a little push, and then he's off--racing down a private drive, no training wheels, a born rider. The scene wouldn't be notable if the child weren't ELIAN GONZALEZ and the man chasing after him weren't a burly U.S. marshal.

With the furor over his custody at least temporarily subsided, Elian may actually be getting a chance to be a regular kid again. Holed up at the Aspen Institute's Wye River estate, a 1,100-acre retreat on Maryland's Eastern Shore, Elian is playing with schoolmates from Cuba while getting bombarded by huge lots of toys from well-wishers. His father has sent most of them back, says family friend the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, because "he doesn't want to repeat the Miami situation, in which Elian was surrounded by things." Elian, she says, seems to agree: "He said he was going to give his toys to his friends in Cuba." But maybe not the bike.

--By Elaine Shannon/Washington