Run: 2026-07-01-01KWE9WWS8DY38D0R6747A2VGS

The back room of Big Sal's Pawn Shop smelled like mothballs and bad decisions, which suited Molly just fine. She spread the blueprints across the table—crayon drawings, actually, stolen from the birthday invitation itself. "Bill, look at this," she said, tapping the paper. "Bouncy castle here. Pin-the-tail station here. And the present table, right by the cake." Bill squinted at the crayon rendering of what appeared to be a purple dinosaur wearing a party hat. "Are we robbing a six-year-old's birthday party or trying to decode a ransom note written by a toddler?" "Both, if we're lucky." "Molly, I want to point out that we are grown adults planning to steal presents from children." "I want to point out that those presents are worth four hundred dollars, easy. Little Timmy's got rich grandparents." "His name is Timmy?" "His name is Marcus, but I like Timmy better. Focus." Bill rubbed his temples. "How do we even get in? It's not like we can just walk through the front door." "That's exactly how we get in. We dress up." "Dress up as what?" "Clowns." Bill stared at her. "Absolutely not." "Bill—" "I did clown time once, Molly. Nineteen ninety-four. Bad birthday, worse balloon animals. I am not doing clown again." "Fine, fine. We go as caterers, then. Nobody questions the guy with the cheese platter." "Now that," Bill said, brightening, "I can work with. I make a very convincing cheese platter guy." "You made a convincing everything guy. That's your whole thing." "It's a gift." He paused. "So we walk in with cheese, walk out with presents. What's the catch?" "The catch," Molly said, "is Grandma Rose." "Who?" "Timmy's grandmother. She's ex-military. Ran a tight ship at three different birthday parties last year. Foiled a magician mid-trick because she thought his rabbit was 'suspicious.'" "The rabbit was probably fine." "The rabbit had a knife taped to its foot, Bill. She was right." Bill sat back, impressed despite himself. "Okay. So Grandma Rose is the wild card." "Grandma Rose is the whole deck." "What's the plan for her?" "Cake diversion. You distract her with cake, I grab the presents, we're out before she finishes her second slice." "And if she doesn't want cake?" "Everybody wants cake, Bill. It's cake." "What if she's diabetic?" Molly paused. "...We bring a backup pie." "A backup pie." "For contingencies." Bill looked down at the crayon map again, at the dinosaur, at the scribbled arrow pointing to "PRESENTS!!!" in glitter pen. "We're really doing this." "We're really doing this." "Robbing children." "Redistributing wealth from children who have too many Legos to us, who have none." Bill considered this. "When you put it that way, it almost sounds noble." "It's very noble. Now go find a cheese platter. We've got a party to crash."