The Restless Heart of the City

New York, New York, 1960. The lights of Manhattan shimmered across the Hudson like scattered silver. In a small café off Washington Square, Claire McKinnon stirred her coffee with a sterling silver souvenir spoon, engraved with the skyline she’d dreamed of since childhood. She had come from Glasgow with a suitcase and a notebook of songs, believing she’d find her voice in the city that never slept. Across the table sat Daniel, a photographer who saw poetry in everything she said. That night, as the jukebox played, she slipped the spoon into his hand — “so you don’t forget where to find me.” Years later, when the spoon was shaped into a ring, it still gleamed with the same light that danced over the Hudson that night — a circle of silver that carried both her courage and the city’s restless heart.