The first three beds on the left had support poles with traction ropes hanging from them like cat's cradles.

He looked at the traction ropes.

The new lift design presents a departure from the traditional, looped over-the-top traction rope routing of traction elevators.

All around him at Medina Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, young men writhe in steamy beds, their arms and legs trapped in traction ropes, their gunshot wounds the latest proof of a society out of control.