"Hmmm. That makes it tough."

Brightly, Jimmy asked, "Can I open an account here?"

"Why, sure you can," said the policeman. "All you have to do is to bring
your parents in."

"But I want the money," wailed Jimmy.

"Jimmy James," explained the policeman with a slight frown to the teller,
"we can't cash a check without positive identification. Do you know what
positive identification means?"

"Yes sir. It means that you've got to be sure that this is me."

"Right! Now, those are the rules. Now, of course, you don't look like
the sort of young man who would tell a lie. I'll even bet your real
name is Jimmy James, Jr. But you see, we have no proof, and our boss
will be awful mad at us if we break the rules and cash this check without
following the rules. The rules, Jimmy James, aren't to delay nice, honest
people, but to stop people from making mistakes. Mistakes such as taking
a little letter out of their father's mailbox. If we cashed that check,
then it couldn't be put back in father's mailbox without anybody knowing
about it. And that would be real bad."

"But it's mine!"

"Sonny, if that's yours, all you have to do is to have your folks come in
and say so. Then we'll open an account for you."