Asking to become a real boy is a high-risk strategy, legal experts believe, because such wishes are rarely granted in high-profile cases such as the widening Enron scandal.
As if to underline that point, attorneys for the Justice Department indicated today that it did not have the power to grant Lay’s unusual request, and forwarded it to Jiminy Cricket, the noted cricket, for further review.
But associates of Mr. Cricket said today that it was unlikely that the insect would play “any significant role” in Lay’s becoming a real boy.
“Jiminy is staying as far away from this Enron mess as possible,” one of Mr. Cricket’s associates said today. “He’s seen what it’s done to Dick Cheney.”
Experts in the field of real-boy transformation said that while Jiminy Cricket could have been helpful to Lay’s cause, the ultimate decision as to whether or not Lay becomes a real boy rests with the Blue Fairy, often considered the third-most-powerful figure in Washington after President George W. Bush and Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan.
Associates of the Blue Fairy indicated today that it was unlikely that the fairy was predisposed to helping Lay out, however, saying that the embattled former Enron chief was “wishing upon a star.”
“The Blue Fairy is as ticked off at Lay as everyone else,” one of the Blue Fairy’s associates said. “She had 300 shares of Enron stock in her 401(k) account.”
