Run: 2026-04-24-01KQ0G4XXERQGKP1Q82YZRMQPE

The back booth at Denny's smelled like burnt coffee and regret, which Molly felt was appropriate for the occasion. She unrolled a napkin across the table and began sketching with a crayon she'd stolen from the kids' menu. "Okay," she said. "Bouncy castle here. Piñata here. Presents table, right here, by the juice boxes." Bill squinted at the napkin. "Why is the bouncy castle shaped like a kidney?" "It's a perspective thing." "It's a kidney, Molly." "Focus, Bill." She tapped the crayon. "The kid turns seven on Saturday. Thirty guests confirmed on the Evite. Mom's a dentist, dad's in logistics, which is a fancy way of saying he owns a truck. These people have money." Bill stirred four creamers into his coffee. "I still think we should rob a bank." "Banks have cameras. And guards. And dye packs." "Parties have parents." "Parents," Molly said, "have wine. By three o'clock, they'll be too deep in chardonnay to notice a raccoon, let alone us. We go in during the magician." "There's a magician?" "Mister Marvelo. Forty bucks an hour, highly reviewed, does a dove thing." Bill leaned back. "And our cover story?" "You're Uncle Greg from Sacramento." "I don't look like a Greg." "You look exactly like a Greg." "What do you look like?" Molly smiled and pulled a laminated badge from her purse. "I look like Tammy, from Tammy's Balloon Emporium, here to do the balloon animals." "You can't do balloon animals." "I can do a snake." "A snake is just a balloon, Molly." "A snake is a balloon with confidence." She slid a duffel bag across the booth with her foot. "I've got a deflated sheep costume in there for the getaway. We waddle out the side gate looking like one of those walking petting zoo things." Bill stared at her. "You want us to leave a heist dressed as a sheep." "Half a sheep each. You're the back." "I'm always the back." "You have the build for it." He sighed, the long sigh of a man who had been someone's back for too many years. "What about the presents? Thirty kids, that's thirty boxes. We're not fitting thirty boxes into a sheep." "That's the beauty part." Molly tapped her temple. "The gifts get piled by the garage. We back the Subaru up at 3:15, when they're doing cake. Kids are sugar-blind for a full eight minutes after the candles. I clocked it at my nephew's." "You cased your nephew?" "I case everybody." Bill picked up the crayon and drew a small, grim stick figure by the bouncy castle. "What's our exit if things go sideways?" "Piñata." "Piñata?" "I rigged it. Full of glitter and marbles. Anyone chases us, they're slipping on shiny chaos while we sheep away into the sunset." Bill considered this for a long moment. He took a sip of his coffee. He looked at the kidney-shaped bouncy castle. He looked at Molly. "Fine," he said. "But I'm not doing the baa noise." "Oh, Bill. You absolutely are."