Essential or Obsolete?

Every time I return to Columbus Street, this arrangement of Gaynell's on an art deco piece of furniture catches my eye.  I love the piece and the roses, but the rotary phone is the source of my pause.  Most would consider rotary phones obsolete.  I had one left in my house before the storm.  As Gaynell and her neighbor were finding their way in a flooded New Orleans, the only way they could be in touch with the outside world was through a fixed line rotary phone.  Heaven knows where my old one is, but Gaynell told me that she will always keep one for just such another emergency. And, voila...this one is ready and waiting, hopefully to never have to be used.