“Ms. Harbor, where were you at 9 p.m. on April 9th?” boomed the lawyer.
“I was heading home from the fields where I had just finished putting the chicks to sleep,” I replied confidently. My ears flicked back with agitation. This was going to be a long day.
“Did you see Ms. Sabanna that night?”
“Yes,” my lawyer had told me to reply with confidence but not over confidence.
“Are you aware of what blue paint means?”
“Yes, I was alive during the rebellion. I was only a puppy, but it was a very memorable time.”
“Did you believe in what was going on?”
“No, my parents helped to stop it,” I answered.
“Why was there blue paint on your paws, Ms. Harbor?”
“I saw a drop on Sabanna’s hoof, and I cleaned up the markings on the floor.”
“If you are innocent, then why did you clean it up?”
“I did not think it meant anything, I was just trying to keep the barn clean.”
The audience murmured with disbelief. They did not believe my words over what the most popular residents on the farm had said.
“You may sit down, Ms. Harbor. Bring the witness to the stand,” the judge ordered. Sabanna trotted to the witness stand, her head held high.
“Did you see Ms. Harbor on the night of the 9th?”
“Yes.”
“What were you doing there?”
“I heard something crash, and so I went out to check it out. There I saw Harbor walking out of the feed room,” she said nervously. She kept looking at her parents who were nodding vigorously.
“Did you see blue paint anywhere?” My lawyer was asking the most basic of questions.
“Yes, under Harbor's paws. I didn’t know what it meant. I was not alive during the time. I told my friend, and I guess she told the chancellor.” Once again, she looked over at her parents.
“Thank you Ms. Sabanna, you may sit down.” My lawyer hastily walked over to the judge, and whispered something.
Hours passed, and all heads turned towards the jury to hear their verdict. The lead jurist handed a paper with the verdict to the judge. The judge looked at me solemnly. Immediately he stood up and announced loudly: “.......”
To be continued...

A Day earlier
The window broke. Stumbling out of the broken glass was a white figure. It fell to my feet. A guilty smirk fell across her face. Her name was Sabanna; she was the daughter of the main shearing sheep. She was always getting into trouble. She was the first one to wake up in the morning, and the last to fall asleep. She resided hidden in the shadows some days, and others she pranced around exposed in the front facing fields. Her father was the top sire on Astonia Farm. She was basically royalty, but she did not act like that at all. Her mother, also being famous on the farm, was never there to raise her. Both her parents put work first, family second. She was raised by the cows, this was common of many lamb her age.
Sabanna picked herself up and looked at her hooves. She would never dare make eye contact with me, for I am much older than her.
“I-I-I-was just looking for-- Lily,” she stuttered. Lily was Sebanna’s best friend. A puppy. “I thought she might’ve been hiding in the hay room.”
“Mhmm, let me see your tags” I knew many troublemakers like her.
Reluctantly, Sabanna picked up her back leg for me to examine her orange tags. Tags are the ID of each resident of the farm. I took a close look at her tags, they were scratched. Like someone was trying to take them off. There was a tracking device in the center, if the tags are removed, one can escape from the farm unnoticed. Making them untraceable, and free. Noting this, I told her that she could proceed. Many kids have attempted to escape. She will come around, I thought to myself.
As she trotted away towards the housing quarters, I noticed blue paint on the bottom of her back left hoof, the one opposite of the tagged leg. It was subtle, just a drip of royal blue paint. It was tracking small blue dots across the floor. I pushed it to the back of my mind. Blue paint hasn’t been a problem since 5 years ago. There was a revolt five years back. Blue paint used to symbolize markers of hiding places of revolting residents.
Whatever, that was solved many years ago. I thought. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. I proceeded to clean up the splattered blue paint that spotted across the floor. It was a very dense blue paint, and it stained my paws slightly.
I then went back to my headquarters in the main house. I trotted through the double doggie doors. Being a chocolate lab, the doors had to be relatively big, and my people always feared another animal was able to enter the house. I flew up the steps and fell asleep instantly once hitting the already occupied bed.

The morning meant a new start to a new day. The chancellor had called a meeting. His broad shoulders pranced up to the top of the hill as everyone gathered to hear him speak. He looked concerned. I feared for the worst. This was a very rare look on his aging face.
“Good morning my citizens. I feel I have the need to announce there is a problem that arose last night. There was blue paint streaked across the floor outside the feed barn when the morning shift started at 6am. We fear there is another “burden” arising. I was positive this was over, if you gain any knowledge, pleases come to me immediately. However, do not panic. We have already dealt with this once, we can do it again.” He spoke with confidence, however, his expression was concerned.
After he spoke, the citizens stirred worryingly. A young chick scurried up to the chancellor, and whispered something in his ear. His eyes widened and he motioned for the chick to come with him into the barn.
I proceeded to continue with my day. Doing simple tasks to busy myself. Half past noon, an officer came to my door and escorted me to the chancellor’s quarters. 
“You are the only person unaccounted for last night. You have been very trustworthy Ren, please tell me you are not trying to organize another riot,” The chancellor’s eyes were wide with fear.
“Please talk to my lawyer,” I snapped back. Who are you making false accusations.
“I will be glad to address this problem in court,” he replied calmly. He motioned at the door.
Enraged I stomped out. How dare he question my loyalty.
It was Sabanna who was starting the rebellion, at the time I guess I was too ignorant to say that then. I never knew she would pin it on me.

Back to the court:

Hours passed, all heads turned towards the jury to hear their verdict. The lead jurist handed a paper with the verdict to the judge. The judge looked at me solemnly. Immediately he stood up and announced loudly: “Guilty”.  The crowd went silent.
Her parents always had a thing against dogs. In our community, the sheep were held way above any other animal. They were royalty, I guess they were willing to go farther than I had thought.  I am now not allowed back on the farm and will live out my days with my family, living in the main house. My mother once told me : “life was not fair in a world where some people think they are superior to others.”