At last the truth but before I get too far ahead of myself I should tell you everything that happened in order.
The Committee held their last scheduled hearing today and they asked Carmel to speak after me on purpose because they knew some of the things I would be saying about Barry and they knew Carmel's portion of the story would follow nicely after mine.
Carmel, that sweet little lamb, took questions from Esther about the night of the massacre and she told everyone, as loudly as she could speak, that she had seen the chicken coop all boarded up as the man and the woman came rushing down from the farmhouse and, within a few minutes, she looked again and the boards had been taken down.
All the animals had known that Barry had taken wood into the chicken coop - they had all seen him do it, he had not even tried to hide it. And the fact that his closest friends on the farm, if the term could be used lightly given my own testimony and accusation about what had happened to Rex, had been protected.
Why had they been prepared for the attack?
All signs continued to point to Barry and the Committee thanked Carmel and told everyone that Barry had not responded to their calls out for him to participate in the hearings and they were ready to declare their final verdict when a small voice piped up that there was still more to the story.
All eyes turned and who did we see but Sally, the little chicken, stepping forward into the centre of the group.
"I have something to say," she said, "and I better say it now."
None of us knew what to expect.
"I have been taking everything I have heard back to Barry and have told him everything you have all been saying," she said. The crowd roared angrily but were silenced by Ginger stomping her hoof and calling for order.
"Continue," she said, once quiet had been restored.
"He has been so angry at it all and he is saying everything you are saying about him is fake and that this is all an attempt by Goebbels to ruin his good name."
The animals all looked at me - me! - and I am not even on this Committee, but I could tell that they were not looking at me accusingly. Barry had shown his true character often enough that they knew better than to believe his idle lies.
Sally looked at me too, but there was surprising kindness with the look that she gave to me.
"And I am here today to tell you all that I know a lie when I see it and..." she paused... "Barry has been the one lying this whole time."
She raised her voice above the murmuring that went up in the crowd and continued over them all.
"He brought us the wood and told us we would need it one night to be kept safe. He told us when to barricade the doors and he even told us that he trusted the fox that animals were saying had been seen but that he wanted us to have protection just in case."
Sally looked at the members of the Committee and finished with this:
"I know this will make the coop unsafe for me but he has brainwashed the other chickens into believing everything he says and they would rather follow him now than risk admitting they've been wrong this whole time. I had my doubts after Rex but after this massacre I cannot stay quiet any longer. Barry did this. Barry is the reason why so many animals died that night."
Oh my friends the stomping of hoofs and mews and bleats and gobbles and oinks and all the sounds that came from all of us after she was finished. It was complete joy and confirmation that we had without a shadow of a doubt proven the guilt we had all suspected.
We made so much noise that our lookouts, those clever squirrels, let us know the man was coming towards us from the farmhouse and so we all scattered before any formal announcement could be made by the Committee but we all went back to our homes knowing that justice could now be dealt.
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