Elwood Bunn and his Flying Bike

by Regyna Longlank

On the Staten Island boardwalk we ran into a man with a nifty modified bike. He had little wooden hands for turn signals, and propellers, and lights and all kinds of good fun going on, and I asked him if he had heard of Burning Man. He had not. I told him about the bike builders, and about Handcar Regatta, and he was excited to go home and google it.

Kids and adults alike were enchanted, and he was clearly a regular on the boardwalk. One little boy was full of suggestions about how he could make the seagull’s wings flap better. Apparently this kid thinks about the flying bike a lot, and offers many suggestions, to the amusement of Elwood and the kid’s older sister.

It was so interesting to see the way Elwood and his bike gave strangers permission to talk to each other. As long as Mr Bunn was providing the foil we were playing and laughing together. The moment he rode off the masks were lowered, eyes averted, and goodbyes impossible as people returned instantly to city mode.

Thanks Elwood. For a moment there was magic :D