Some ghosts are worth keeping.

Maya stared at the blue glow of her Windows 10 desktop. The error message was polite but firm: “TV Home Media 3 not working on this version of Windows.”

She had bought the TV Home Media 3 adapter years ago—a clunky silver box that turned her old CRT television into a second monitor. It had survived three moves, two cats, and one coffee spill. But Windows 10 was its final boss.

Maya laughed. The adapter hummed like a resurrected heartbeat. Windows 10 gave no error. It just worked.

Her husband, Leo, suggested buying a new adapter. “It’s $30 on Amazon.” “No,” Maya said, clutching the silver box. “This thing watched me edit my thesis in 2009. It has soul .”