Run: 2026-07-25-01KYD539FRT0AWGVCJP8QS27GX

Molly spread the blueprints across the hood of the van, which was difficult because the blueprints were actually a crayon drawing she'd bribed off the birthday boy's older brother for six dollars and a pack of gum. "This is the house?" Bill squinted. "The roof is a triangle." "It's a scale model." "It's drawn in purple crayon, Molly." "Artistic license. Now listen." She tapped a lopsided rectangle. "The party starts at two. The clown arrives at two-fifteen. We go in at two-twenty, dressed as the balloon animal people." "We don't know how to make balloon animals." "Neither does anybody, Bill. That's the cover. You twist a balloon, hand a kid a dachshund that looks like a crime scene, nobody questions it." Bill nodded slowly, the way he nodded when he was planning to go along with something he'd regret. "And the presents?" "Living room, east wall. There's a table shaped like a dinosaur. The mom posted forty photos of it online." "She posted the present table?" "She posted the present table, the cake, the gift bags, and a countdown clock. Bless her heart, she basically did our recon." "What's the score looking like?" Molly flipped open her notebook. "Confirmed: one trampoline, box says assembly required, some assembly is a lie, it requires a engineering degree. One drone. Three of those robot dogs that yip. A karaoke machine. And a suspiciously heavy box labeled 'from Grandma' that I believe is either a bicycle or a brick collection." "Grandmas don't give brick collections." "You haven't met my grandma." Bill rubbed his face. "Molly, I want to go on record. We're stealing presents from a seven-year-old." "We're redistributing them." "To ourselves." "Redistribution is redistribution. Besides, the kid's getting a trampoline AND a drone. He's living better than both of us combined. It's practically charity." "Charity for us." "Don't make it weird." Bill folded his arms. "What's the exit plan?" "Out the back, through the yard, over the fence, into the van. Total time, eleven minutes." "There's a bouncy castle in the backyard. I saw it on the photos. The van can't get to the back." "We go around the side." "There's a gate." "Climb it." "There's a dog." Molly paused. "How big?" "The photos show a dog the size of a pony wearing a party hat." "A party hat means it's docile." "A party hat means it's humiliated, Molly. Humiliated dogs bite." She chewed her pen. "Fine. New plan. You distract the dog." "With what?" "You're the balloon animal guy. Make it a balloon steak." "I can't make a balloon steak!" "Then improvise! That's what this whole operation runs on, Bill! Improvisation and confidence!" A long silence. Bill stared at the crayon roof. "Why can't we rob a bank like normal people?" "Because banks have security guards, vaults, and dye packs. This place has a clown, a dinosaur table, and a piñata full of loose candy we can fence by the pound." "You can fence loose candy?" "Bill. Everything is fenceable if you believe in yourself." He sighed the sigh of a man already climbing a gate. "Fine. But I'm not making balloon animals." "You're making balloon animals." "I'm making one balloon animal. The same one. Over and over." "That's the spirit." Molly rolled up the blueprint. "Now help me practice. I need to learn Happy Birthday on the karaoke machine by Saturday." "Why?" "Cover story, Bill. Cover story."