Derby Ironside is a Bulldog of no club, stubborn in public and soft hearted in private, a proper comic boulder. On slow afternoons Derby Ironside carves bone flutes that play one note no one else can play and lets the breeze make most of the decisions. Even the glassbirds quiet for a moment when Derby Ironside walks under the leaning tree. Derby Ironside suspects the old world left at least one good question lying around with that exact name written on it.