Swamped

"Doesn't the hospital have anything? I doubt it's unheard of for patients to struggle a little."

"Two weeks ago, one of the nurses came into the bar and asked me for a rope because they were tryin' to treat a drunk who wouldn't stay still," Patterson replies, as she starts walking off. "I'll ask if they've found a better option since, but I wouldn't exactly go gettin' my hopes up."

Well, that's wonderful. It feels like several minutes before she's out of sight. You look around to see if there's anything useful.

"Why are you moving your head so slowly?" Minnie asks. Come to think of it, her talking sounds a bit faster. "You trying to do a real careful search or something?"

Uh-oh. Whatever oddity is going on must still be acting up. Well, you're closer to him now than you were during the fight. It doesn't seem as bad, though... maybe because you aren't as tense, since he's not putting up so much of a struggle for some reason.

But it's enough to make you think you should get him restrained sooner rather than later.

"What about that stuff they put around a broken leg?" you ask. "What do you call it again, a cast? Could we use one of those to keep his hands and feet together?"

"Casts take some time to prepare," says a voice behind you. "Have to shape and dry the plaster. And it's not exactly something we've got enough of to use frivolously, not to mention this isn't really what they're meant for."

You turn your head - quicker than you're comfortable with, so that hopefully it looks like normal speed - and see a nurse standing nearby.

"Probably wouldn't be ready before Ms. Patterson can get the rope," the nurse continues. "So you're just going to have to sit tight."

"Are you sure you don't have anything? It doesn't need to be longer than a few minutes. Wouldn't bet on bedsheets holding him, but surely there's something a little better than that."

"Well, after the incident a couple of weeks ago, we did talk about other options but we didn't decide on anything." She pauses. "Oh, but wait. There was a note about a patient causing trouble during the day, come to think of it. It mentioned that another patient happened to have something useful for keeping her restrained... now, what was it again?"